


Humanity's Luckiest

by Ketoprofen



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, I don't like using a lot of tags so I'm keeping it simple, POV Third Person, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 02:36:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 45,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20220385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ketoprofen/pseuds/Ketoprofen
Summary: Katherine Sloan is a Lieutenant in the Survey Corps who's learned that relationships and emotions and attachments only lead to heartbreak and sadness.Despite this, she is still a woman with needs. Needs that are readily met by Captain Levi Ackerman, another solider who avoids emotions and relationships.Their arrangement works perfectly for both of them for nearly a decade. But then a new cadet joins a military and everything changes.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> First Levi story and definitely not the last. This will probably be the only one set in the original universe. For some reason I just prefer Levi is Modern AUs.
> 
> This first chapter is short in order to give some background and not much else. I've been working on this story for a while and I've got it all completed in my Google Docs so I'll upload everything pretty quickly.

Levi didn't know much about Katherine Sloan. He knew that she was an orphan like him, but not the circumstances behind her parents' deaths. He knew that she was not from the Underground like him, but he didn't know what village or city she hailed from. He knew she was stronger than him, but often let others take credit for her accomplishments for reasons he didn't know. He knew she had a deadness in her eyes like him. He knew she also didn’t sleep well at night. He knew she gave better blow jobs than any prostitute in any brothel in the Underground. He knew how to turn her body into putty in his hands, and she knew the same about him.

It had all started innocently enough when they were both new Scout recruits. Kat had harbored some resentment toward Levi and his thug friends because they had gotten to skip the three years of grueling training she had undergone. Levi harbored resentment toward Kat because she was better than him. They were always at each other's throats, insulting one another and picking fights, battling for who would be the best recruit. They were often both punished for their outbursts by getting assigned deep cleaning duty of the entire dining hall and kitchen. This was a punishment to be completed after training, before bed. 

It was one late night in the dining hall during one of these punishments that Levi had confronted Katherine about her shoddy work, saying she was going to get them in even more trouble if she didn't clean better. She had told him to shut his runt mouth and tackled him. They had rolled around in the dark until she had pinned him like she always did, but not before badly tearing the undershirts they were both wearing. As she had straddled him, pinning his hips and shoulders to the concrete floor, he had looked up and seen the strong, shapely, feminine body that had, up until then, always been hidden under a uniform. His body had reacted on its own and she had felt his erection pressing into her core, even through their thick uniform pants. Her body had reacted to that pressure and the sight of his strong chest and he had felt a sudden heat spreading across his erection. They had stared at each for just a split second, the moment registering in both of their minds, before she reached to unbutton his pants and he simultaneously reached to pull off her shirt and undo her bra.

That had been the beginning of their arrangement. No romance, no friendship, just physical release whenever one or both of them needed it. They didn't necessarily try to keep it a secret, but they didn't necessarily want anyone to know, either. They rarely interacted in public outside of training and meetings and they never spent time privately together unless they were having sex. Even after orgasm, they both quickly cleaned up, redressed, and went their separate ways. Half the time they didn't even look at each other during the act, opting for positions that had them facing away from one another.

After all, they were both officers in the Scout regiment. They had soldiers to lead to almost certain death as they themselves toed the line every time they left on expeditions. There was no time for relationships and emotions, and they met each other's physical needs to keep their hormones from interfering with their decisions.

They still butted heads and argued, but they had grown out of name calling and fist fights. They were adults now. Military leaders meant to be examples for their soldiers.


	2. The New Kid

Kat stood on a small platform overlooking the training grounds, supervising her squad and keeping an eye out for potential recruits. She was always in need of new people and, with six months left before the 104th Cadet Corps’ graduation, now was the time to start picking people out of the current class. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she stood with a wide stance, a subconscious piece of body language she had picked up over the years to make herself seem more intimidating. The 5’2” female needed everything she could get to keep people from underestimating her. She was petite and pretty, and that translated to “weak” in the eyes of most people.

It was windy that day, storm clouds brewing on the horizon. Her strawberry blonde hair whipped into her light blue eyes, but she didn't want to bother trying to tie it back. She was too busy scanning the sparring grounds before her, watching. Off to the left she spotted a cadet she recognized - what she would call the class bully. Tall, broad-shouldered, and undeniably handsome with tanned skin, black hair, and light blue eyes. He was strong, but instead of applying that towards training he applied it towards picking on any male cadets smaller than him and making the female cadets uncomfortable. Today he was sparring with a blond boy and had quite the upper hand. The bully put the blond in a chokehold but, when the blond started tapping out, the bully didn't release his hold.

Kat uncrossed her arms and hopped down from the platform, quickly striding over to the pair. "Henderson, what in the hell do you think you're doing?” She asked as she reached and grabbed the hand the bully was using to lock in the chokehold. Before he could react, she twisted his wrist to an unnatural angle which caused him to release his hold on the other cadet.

The smaller boy fell coughing to the ground, holding his throat. Kat recognized him as Armin Arlert, a cadet with mediocre physical scores but dynamite testing scores. She jerked her head to the right, indicating for Armin to “get out”. He quickly obliged and scampered off. Kat released her grip on Henderson and walked around in front of him, standing between him and his retreating prey.

“We were sparring, ma'am!” Henderson said finally, trying to seem like the model soldier. He was rubbing the wrist she had twisted.

She had known sociopaths like him in her past and recognized that glint he got in his eye when he was hurting somebody. He wasn't going to fool her into thinking he was innocent or well-meaning. “Is that so?” She asked as she crouched down slightly, moving her body sideways to face her right hip toward him as her left foot slid back. “Well, I'm your opponent now,” she said as she raised her fists, right hand at her eye, left hand at her jaw.

Henderson blinked at her, unsure of what to do. He was more than a foot taller than her and easily had at least 80 lbs on her. Was he really supposed to fight her?

Kat scowled when she realized he wasn't getting into his own fighting stance. “What, scared to get your ass kicked by a girl?” She taunted.

“No ma'am,” he answered quickly, “I'm afraid to injure you, ma'am.”

“Hmph,” she stayed in her fighting stance, “I've been on more than forty expeditions outside the wall and never been injured despite hundreds of encounters with titans. You think I'm gonna let myself get hurt by some pissant cadet?”

He sighed and begrudgingly moved into his own fighting stance. He was also left-handed so his stance mirrored hers: right hip forward, left foot back. She had to hand it to him, he had a level head when it came to taunting. She had expected him to get angry and charge her. They stood there for a moment staring at each other before she snapped, “Come at me, cadet!”

He took a deep breath, stealing his nerve to hurt a superior, and threw a punch at her face. Even though it was lazy, it was fast.

“Hmph,” she scoffed and easily deflected his fist down her right arm, responding with a sharp left jab to his nose so quick that he didn't get to block it. His head popped back from the hit and he looked at her with wide eyes.

“If I have to say ‘come at me’ one more time, I'm sending your ass home,” she threatened.

His eyebrows knitted together. He was angry now. He wasn't going to let some little girl taunt him, even if she was a superior. He lunged, giving this punch much more power and speed than his previous one. He didn't even get close to her. She had seen his weight shift out of the corner of her eye and had known exactly where he was going. She ducked, avoiding his fist, and got in three punches to his ribs before he had a chance to react. He stumbled back, clutching his side. She stood back up and resumed her stance. Now he would fight her for real. Henderson growled and released his side. He charged, hoping to tackle her, knowing he would have the upper hand in a grapple due to his size. She lifted her left leg, swinging it underneath her for better momentum as she hooked her left arm around his extended left arm. Using their opposing momentums much like she did when using her ODM gear, she swung up and around and planted her right knee square into the base of his skull.

He collapsed. She watched for a few seconds to see if he was going to get back up.

He didn't.

She looked up and saw that the cadets around them had stopped their own fights to watch hers.

“Reiner, Bertholdt,” she called the two recruits closest to her.

They both snapped to attention. “Ma'am!”

“Take him to the infirmary,” she ordered as she turned and walked back toward the small platform she had previously been standing on.

Behind her she heard the two boys shuffling to pick up Henderson and drag him away from the sparring grounds. Levi was waiting for her on the platform when she returned. She didn't say anything to him as she resumed the position she'd held before the fight: arms crossed, feet wide, hair blowing in her face. 

“You know we're not allowed to kill cadets, right?” Levi asked.

“Hmph. Arlert yielded but Henderson didn't let him go.”

“Tch,” Levi responded, “You think yielding and showing mercy works in the real world?”

She looked at him. She didn't know many details about his past, just that he was a thug from the Underground. “Hmph. Yes, because that's how it works in the civilized world,” she taunted.

If she bothered him with his words, he didn't show it. He never showed it. “You're too soft on them,” he finally said.

“But you just told me not to kill them?”

“Yielding and mercy are not in titan vocabulary. You keep teaching them to stop before the killing blow and they’ll all die,” he responded.

She didn’t immediately respond. He was right, after all, and they both knew it. She’d had more than one soldier under her command thus far die because they thought they saw some glint of humanity in a titan, thought the monster was yielding, and stopped their attack just before getting eaten. “Hmph. Fuck you, Levi,” she finally grunted. 

“Later,” he responded quietly enough for her to hear. Then, louder for anyone who might be close enough to hear, he said, “Lieutenant, meet me in my office later. I have some troop movements to discuss.”

She gave a half-hearted salute. “Sir.”

He dismissed her and walked away. He was in for a rude awakening if he thought he was getting what he wanted.

\----

Kat was one of the first people to enter the mess hall for dinner that night. She finished her food quickly and stayed at the officer's table watching all the cadets. She was waiting for Levi to finish eating and go back to his office so that she could follow. She stewed in anger and annoyance - she was going to rip him a new asshole once they were alone.

Henderson was the last person to enter the hall. He seemed fine, no bandages or splints or slings, no limp, no visible bruises. Kat watched him get his dinner and go sit by himself, eating alone. Did she really humiliate him so badly today that he wasn't going to sit with his friends?

Wait, had she ever seen him sit with friends? Now that she thought about it, she didn't remember ever seeing him eat with a group of people or talk with anyone. If she ever saw him interacting with anyone, he was harassing them. After more than two years in training he should have made some friends. Even she had made a handful of friends and she was a highly asocial ice queen. Or so she had been told.

She left her seat at the head table and walked over to the lone boy, sitting on the bench across from him. Everyone in the room watched her. The cadets had yet to see the Lieutenant do anything other than glower at them on the training grounds and offer criticisms on their technique.

“Henderson,” she greeted as she sat down.

He swallowed his food. “Ma'am.”

“How are you feeling?” She asked.

He shrugged and took another bite of food without saying anything.

She looked around at all the faces staring at them. All the eyes quickly averted back down to their food as she looked at them. “When you're done, come see me in my office,” she said quietly.

“Yes ma'am,” he answered and continued eating.

She stood from the table and walked back to the officer's table. She bent to Commander Erwin's ear and whispered something. He kept his face neutral as she spoke. When she was finished, he gave her a simple nod. She saluted him, bid the rest of the table good night, and went to her office. 

Levi watched her every move. He also watched as Henderson took his dishes back to the kitchen and left soon after.

\----

Kat had just gotten a fire going in her office when there was a knock on her door. “Come in,” she called out as she stood and dusted soot from her hands.

“You wanted to see me?” Henderson asked as he stepped through the door.

“Yes,” she pointed to one of the arm chairs in the corner of the room. “Sit.”

He did as she ordered, closing the door behind him. She joined him in the other armchair. A small round coffee table sat in the middle of a small sitting area where she rarely entertained visitors. The two of them sat silently for a moment, appraising each other.

Kat finally broke the silence. “Why did you join the military?”

“To protect mankind against the titans,” he quickly answered without looking up from his hands.

“No, why did you really join?”

He looked up, staring at her. She knew he was lying, and he knew that she knew he was lying. But he stayed silent.

She met his unblinking gaze with her own. “Do you want to hear why I joined?”

He stayed still, no nodding or shaking of his head, no words.

“Anytime someone would ask, I gave the same answer as you: to defend mankind against the titans. But I actually joined because I was sick of everyone telling me I could never do it. I'm too small, I'm too weak, I'm not brave enough. I've been underestimated my whole life, so I decided I was going to prove everybody wrong and be the best goddamn fighter anyone's ever seen.”

His stare softened but didn't disappear.

“I also think a small part of me was hoping I would get killed,” she finished and sat back in her arm chair. She was hoping that this display of candid honesty would show him that she was expecting the same from him

“Too weak to take your own life?” He asked. 

She couldn't quite tell if he was asking a genuine question or just mocking her. She shrugged. “Maybe.”

“But you were never killed.”

She nodded. “That's right, and now I'm so strong that I don't think anything could kill me. At least not a stupid titan.”

He clenched his fists on his knees, seeming to struggle with his next words. “Do people respect you?”

“Do you respect me?” She answered his question with a question.

He thought for a moment. “I don't know.”

“Why not?”

It was his turn to shrug. “I guess I don't fear you enough.”

“Is that what you think respect is, Henderson? Fear?”

He didn't answer.

“Is that why you bully everyone? To make them fear you? To make them respect you?”

“Isn't that why you fought me today?” He snapped. “To try and scare me?”

She shrugged. “No. I don't care if people are scared of me. I don't care if they respect me, either. I used to care, but not anymore.” She paused and leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees. “All I care about now is whether or not I respect myself. Do you respect yourself?”

“Of course I do!” He snapped. “What kind of a man would I be otherwise?”

“A pretty normal one, actually,” she said quietly. “Most people spend years trying to get to the point where they respect themselves. And a lot of people never reach that point.”

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “What about you? Do you respect yourself?” He asked.

“Sure. That's why I don't care if anyone else does,” she said and leaned back in her chair.

There was silence for a minute or two as he thought. He finally asked, “Can you teach me?”

“Teach you what? To respect yourself?”

He nodded.

She grinned, a spark finally lighting behind her dead eyes. She saw a lot of herself in this kid. “Sure I can.” She stood from her chair and walked back over to her desk. “In fact, I already told Commander Erwin that I planned on personally overseeing the rest of your training to prepare you to join my squad immediately after graduation,” she looked over her shoulder at him. “If you want.”

He jumped up from his chair and saluted. The first real salute he had given her. “Yes ma'am!”

Maybe this kid wasn’t a sociopath after all. She of all people should know that first impressions weren’t accurate. “Good. You're dismissed. Come by my office before breakfast in the morning.”

He nodded, removed his hand from his chest, and left her office. As he walked down the wooden walkway that connected all of the officer quarters, he passed by Levi. If Henderson noticed the captain, he didn't show it.

Levi, however, couldn't help but notice the boy's dopey grin, like he was coming down from some kind of high. Levi's eyes turned back to Kat's office door and he continued his walk there.


	3. Jealousy

Kat took off her uniform shirt and hung it up on her coat rack next to her green cloak and her brown jacket. She was just setting to work on Henderson’s transfer forms when there was another knock at her door. “Come in,” she called from her desk.

Levi walked in, shutting and locking the door behind him before he walked over to her desk. He didn't sit at the chair across from her like other guests, though - he came around to her side of the desk and leaned against the edge. “I thought you were coming to my office tonight?” He asked, arms crossed over his chest.

She didn't look at him as she continued writing. “I got distracted.”

Levi looked over his shoulder at the door that Henderson had recently exited through, a scowl on his face. “With what?”

“My new recruit.”

“Henderson?” He asked.

She nodded.

“What, you like that little psychopath?”

She set down her pen and leaned back in her chair, lacing her fingers in front of her mouth as she looked up at him. “That's the pot calling the kettle black, don't you think?”

“Tch. I just don't know what you see in him.”

Kat watched him for a moment, her fingers still folded in front of her mouth and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why do you care?” She asked.

“Tch. I don't.”

“Hmph. You're jealous,” she said with a smirk.

He scowled again. “Jealous? Of what?”

“The fact that I spent time with another guy when I was supposed to be banging you.”

Levi scoffed and turned away from her.

“What, Levi? You worried I'm gonna trade you in for a newer model?” She teased as she stood. “Maybe one with a better back?” She took a step toward him, leaning her chest into his shoulder as she gingerly played with the end of his cravat. “One that can hold me up against a wall and fuck me senseless?” She whispered and gently bit her bottom lip.

Levi growled and quickly turned, pinning her hips between the desk and his own hips. “Is that what you want?” He asked, his voice husky. “You want me to manhandle you?”

“If you think you can,” she teased, doing her best to bite back the moan in her throat. “If not, I'm sure Henders-”

He interrupted her by smashing his mouth onto hers. She tried to lean away but he grabbed the back of her neck and kept her still, shoving his tongue in her mouth. She was stunned for a second before she got her wits about her and kissed back. Their tongues wrestled against each other, their dominant personalities not letting either of them give in. His hands grabbed her hips roughly and lifted her off the ground. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, squeezing him tight between her thighs. She planned on keeping this up just long enough to get him really hot and bothered, then she would drop him like a sack of bricks. He walked her over to the wall next to the fireplace and pinned her there, pressing her flat against the cold wood paneling. She unwrapped her arms just long enough to untie his cravat and tear his uniform shirt open, buttons popping off and skittering across the floor. She was disappointed to see he was wearing an undershirt.

“You’re going to have to buy me a new uniform,” he growled and bit down on the spot where her shoulder met her neck. The spot was normally covered by the collar of her uniform, but her undershirt left the area bare.

“Oi!” She tried to shout, but her voice wavered, “We said...” she let out a deep, shuddering breath as he bit down again, this time a little further up her neck, “...no marks.”

She could feel him smirking against her skin, but she didn't care anymore. It had been a dirty trick to bite her shoulder and he knew that. He had won. All she could do was pant and moan as he continued biting and sucking his way up and down her shoulder and neck. She reached down and started fumbling with the button on his pants and he slapped her hands away. She whimpered involuntarily and looked at him. He set her down on her own feet again and turned her around so that she was facing the wall. He slid his hands down her sides and across her stomach to the top of her pants, continuing his bites as he did so. He started grinding his hips into her ass.

“What happened to holding me up against the wall?” She tried to taunt, but she felt her sass dissolving under his touch. 

“You were right,” he grunted into her ear as he finally got her pants unbuttoned. “My back is too bad for it.”

He pulled her pants and underwear down to her ankles and did the same with his own pants and underwear. He used one hand to tilt her hips to the right angle as the other guided his erection to her opening. She put her forearms on the wall to brace herself and pressed her forehead into the paneling between her arms. She felt drunk. It took a few shallow thrusts to get started, but he soon found a rhythm and an angle they could both enjoy. He leaned forward and continued to bite and nibble and suck on her shoulders and the back of her neck, leaving bruises and red marks everywhere he went. He wasn't normally like this. They had agreed to not leave any obvious marks on each other, and normally that wasn't a problem because they rarely used their mouths for anything. But tonight something was different. They could both feel it. Levi couldn't fight the urge to mark her skin. But why? 

Because he wanted Henderson to know that she was his. 

Kat had always preferred the primal Levi that slipped out every now and then. He was normally so hard to read, but when he was fighting and when they were fucking she could see and feel him pouring all of his emotion into it. It drove her mad with lust and desire. She felt him reach around in front of her and slide his calloused fingers between her wet folds, making rough, wide circles on her clit. She let out one long, loud groan as she felt her knees go weak. Levi wrapped his free arm around her waist to support her and started moving his fingers and his hips faster.

“I'm gonna come,” she managed to get out in between pants and moans.

“Say my name,” he growled.

She was momentarily snapped out of her stupor. “What?” He had never said that before.

He stopped all of his movements, staying perfectly still as he repeated himself, “Say. My. Name.”

“P-please,” she whined, not wanting him to stop, not when she was so close.

“Say it.” He started rubbing her clit again, but this time much slower. Too slow.

At this point she probably would have killed a person to make him keep going. “Levi,” she said quietly, almost whispering.

He resumed his thrusting, keeping a slow pace to match his slow fingers still circling her clit. “Say it louder.”

“Levi,” she said immediately, this time at her normal speaking volume.

“Louder,” he ordered as he started moving his fingers and hips faster, almost back to the same pace as before. 

“L-Levi!” She stuttered out through a loud moan. “Oh God Levi, I’m so close.”

“Come for me, Kat,” he said in her ear, his hot breath coming out in pants across the side of her face as he grazed his teeth on her earlobe.

Her body shuddered and she quickly came undone, groaning as she felt the waves of pleasure causing every muscle in her body to contract involuntarily. She must have muttered and gasped “God” and “Fuck” at least ten times as she rode out her orgasm, feeling herself clenching around Levi. He slowed down for only a few thrusts, making sure she was done. When he no longer felt her muscles gripping around him, he moved both of his hands to her hips and resumed his thrusting, now less concerned about her pleasure. Kat continued moaning a little as he kept thrusting, but it wasn’t nearly as loud as just a minute previous. Her head was swimming and she saw little flashes of light under her closed eyelids. She truly felt completely drunk now. His thrusts became harder and a little more erratic and she could tell he was almost done. She voluntarily clenched her muscles this time, tightening herself as hard as she could around him. It was something she crudely called “milking him dry” and she knew he loved it. It wasn’t something she did all the time, but this time he fucking deserved it after what he had just done to her.

“F-Fuck,” he stuttered as he came and bit down hard one last time on her shoulder, panting against her skin and muffling his moans.

She stayed clenched around him, only loosening her muscles when he was completely done thrusting. His grip loosened on her hips and he stood there stupidly for a moment, still inside her, also feeling drunk. He wanted so badly to spin her back around and kiss her, bury his face in her hair, and wrap his arms around her, but he had already pushed it enough tonight. One more unexpected thing and she might call off their arrangement completely. And that was the last thing he wanted. 

And so he didn’t do any of it. Instead, he stepped away from her, pulled his pants back up, and tried to tuck his uniform shirt back in. Too many buttons were missing now and it would be obvious that something happened if he walked around wearing it, so he took his shirt and his cravat off and slung them over his shoulder. It wasn't uncommon at this time of night to see people walking around out of uniform, so he knew it wouldn't be suspicious. He watched her as she bent down and pulled up her own pants, not bothering to button them since she wasn’t going anywhere. She turned to face him and his breath caught in his throat. Her face was a little flushed, bringing just a small amount of color to her normally pale cheeks. Her eyes were glazed over, still riding the aftershocks of her pleasure. The deadness that was normally behind her pupils was gone, replaced by a look of bliss and contentment. She ran her fingers through her hair to try and get it out of her face.

She was fucking gorgeous. How had he never noticed that before? No, no. He had always known that. At least, he had always known it on an objective level. But now he felt it, like a clenched fist in his chest. She was his, goddamnit.

“Good night, Captain,” she finally mumbled, giving a very weak, very tired salute.

“Good night, Lieutenant,” he responded quietly.

She turned toward the stairs in the back of the room that led to her private quarters above her office. All unmarried officers had the same quarters upstairs from their offices; the married ones had normal offices with no attached quarters. Levi watched as she ascended the stairs, leaning heavily on the rail to support her wobbling legs as she climbed. Once she was out of sight, he let out a deep breath he didn’t know he was holding and left her office. He turned off the downstairs light and locked the door behind him as he exited. She was going to give him hell for this in the morning.

\----

Kat and Henderson were both late to breakfast the next morning. They entered the mess hall together, talking quietly as they grabbed some pieces of fruit, a hunk of cheese, and half a loaf of bread. They continued talking as they then exited the mess hall, never sitting down or speaking to or even looking at anyone else. Levi watched their every move, a scowl set deep in his face.

“You okay Levi?” Hange asked.

Levi blinked and looked at her. She nodded at the tin cup in his hand and his eyes followed her gaze. The rim of the cup had small dents where his fingers had been squeezing too tightly. “Tch. I'm fine,” he answered and set the cup down, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.

“You know, women don't like petty jealousy,” she whispered.

He glared at her. “What are you talking about, Four Eyes?”

“Did you forget that Kat's office is right next to mine? That we share the wall with her fireplace? That the walls are paper thin?” She wiggled her eyebrows at him with each sentence.

He just scoffed and stood up, taking his cup into the kitchen.


	4. First Training Day

Kat stood in a clearing with Henderson, who she had learned was named Zacharius after his grandfather, but preferred to go by Zach. He had been a hard pregnancy for his mother and they were both expected to die, but he had managed to survive. His mother, unfortunately, did not. His father always worked to try and support his five kids and was often gone for days at a time. 

“When I told my old man I was joining the military, he didn't believe me at first,” Zach was saying as he stretched his arms over his head.

“Why's that?” Kat asked as she touched her toes.

“Said I had a problem with authority and I'd get kicked out for picking fights,” he said as he twisted his upper body.

Kat stood up straight and crossed one arm across her chest. “Well, he wasn’t completely wrong.” She had just threatened to kick him out just the day before, after all.

Zach snorted. “Bastard never paid attention to me unless I was getting in trouble.”

“Maybe that's why you bully people?” She started.

He cocked an eyebrow at her.

“I mean, if I only ever got attention after getting in trouble, I'd start to think that getting in trouble was the right thing to do,” she said with a shrug.

“What are you, my therapist?”

She shrugged again. “Just trying to get to the root of the problem.”

“What about your parents?” He asked.

“What about them?”

“What'd they say when they found out their pretty little daughter was joining the military instead of getting married and popping out a bunch of grandkids?” He teased.

“My parents died when I was a kid.”

His eyes went wide. “Shit, Lieutenant, I'm sorry.”

“Don't be,” she said and rolled her neck one last time. She got down into her fighting stance and muttered, “I killed them.”

Zach gulped and got down into his own stance. He was starting to regret asking her for help.

\----

Levi stood some distance away, hiding in the shadows of the forest and watching Kat and Henderson spar. They would throw a few punches or kicks, then stop and talk for a moment, maybe make some adjustments, and then throw a few more punches or kicks. He couldn't hear what they were saying and he wasn't going to risk getting close enough to hear, but he could tell she was teaching him certain strikes and defensive positions. After she taught him a few things, they started sparring for real and Kat got tackled a few times. Kat's speed and agility dominated for most of the fight, but anytime they moved to the ground she lost her upper hand. 

\----

Zach stood up from his spot pinning Kat to the ground. Kat stayed sitting, catching her breath. She had thought herself a good grappler and wrestler before, but Zach was insane. She could best him with normal boxing, but every time they went to the ground he won hands-down. She had asked at one point how he had gotten so good and he pointed out that he grew up as the youngest of five boys with very little parental supervision. It was kill or be killed, figuratively speaking. Some of the stories he told her made her wonder how he had survived his childhood at all.

Once she had gotten her breath back, she said, “Okay show me the next one.” If she was going to make him a better boxer, he was going to make her a better wrestler.

“Sure,” he said and crouched down over her. “So the basic idea is…”

\----

Levi’s blood boiled as he watched. Kat moved to her hands and knees and Henderson got behind her. He squatted down and pressed his hips into hers as he wrapped his arms diagonally across her chest, one arm under her armpit while the other came around the opposite shoulder. His hands clamped together in the middle, right between her breasts.

Levi stomped towards the clearing.

\----

“So now I've got my center of gravity directly over yours and my wide stance would make it hard for you to throw me off balance by pushing up or to the side with your hips like you normally would,” Zach was explaining.

“But we're pretty top heavy right now. Can I just buckle my elbows and send you over my shoulders?” she asked.

“Sure, but all I have to do is slide my arms up and together and then I've got your head pinned against your arm in a chokehold. You roll me over your shoulders and I'm dislocating your shoulder and maybe breaking your neck.”

“Unless I kick up and flip my legs over you. Like a somersault.”

“But then I still have you in a chokehold and now you're on your back. All I have to do is wrap my legs around yours and you're immobile."

“Hmm,” she thought, staring down at the grass between her fingers.

“Lieutenant, what are all these bruises on the back of your neck?” Zach asked. Her collar must have shifted just enough to where he could see the marks Levi had left on her the night before.

She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Zach asking, “Captain?”

“Henderson,” Levi growled.

Kat looked up and saw Levi standing at the edge of the clearing with his arms across his chest. “Can I help you, Captain? We're in the middle of training,” she said as she looked back at the ground, trying to think of an excuse for her bruises.

Zach was frozen against her.

“Yes, I need to have a word with you,” he replied, trying to keep his tone level. “Henderson, go join the others on the ODM course.”

Zach scrambled to his feet and saluted. “Sir!” He said before grabbing his things and practically running away from the clearing.

Kat groaned and moved so that she was sitting cross legged on the ground. She waited until Zach was out of earshot before she asked, “Yes, Captain?” in her most sarcastic voice.

“You train all your prospective recruits like this?” He asked.

“Hmph. No, but there's a first time for everything, right?” She asked and stood up, brushing dirt off her pants. “Speaking of which, what the fuck was last night?” She walked toward him, continuing to speak, “Telling me to say your name and leaving marks all over me. Who do you think you are? My boyfriend?” She stopped just outside of his reach.

_God I wish._ “Tch. Look who's talking,” he snapped. “Saying you're gonna trade me in for a newer model? What, you’re gonna teach some kid everything I already know?”

“Hmph. I taught you, didn't I?” She taunted and left the question hanging.

“Tch,” he thought for a second, scowling. “I don't trust him.”

“Who? Zach?”

“Who's Zach?”

She rolled her eyes. “Henderson.”

His scowl deepened. Now she's on a first name basis with this idiot? “Yes, Henderson.” 

“Why don't you trust him?” She asked.

“I think he's just sucking up to you to get in your pants.”

She shrugged, holding her palms out. “Like you're any different?”

“Tch. I'm not a psychopath.”

She arched a disbelieving eyebrow.

“You don't know what he's capable of,” Levi continued. “You're spending all this time alone with him, how do you know he won't take advantage of you?”

“Levi I've spent almost ten years kicking your ass on a regular basis. If Humanity's Strongest soldier can't beat me, why should I be afraid of some cadet?”

He didn't answer. She was right. Every time they sparred, she won. When they were new recruits, flying through the trees and killing dummy titans, she was always faster and killed more than him. Out in the field he had watched her cut down more titans than him on a regular basis, sometimes even twice as many. But he also knew that word of her strength never spread. He was the only one who had any idea that she was better than him. “Why do you always let other people take credit for what you do?” He asked, realizing after he said it that it was a random question. But it was something he had always wanted to ask her.

She blinked. “Let others take credit…” she trailed off, incredulous at his question. “I didn't realize that keeping score was part of being a soldier.”

“It's not,” he started, then reconsidered, trying to come across a little softer. “You should be the leader of the Special Operations squad, not me. You should be Captain, not me.”

She blinked again. “Why are you saying all this?”

“I don't know,” he answered honestly and took a step toward her.

She stepped back. “Why have you been so weird the last few days?”

“I don't know,” he said again.

She watched him for a minute, her eyebrows knitted together. It’s not like she had ever purposely given credit to anyone else, she had just never fought it when someone else took credit. She knew she was strong, so who cared if anyone else knew? “How do you know other people take credit for my work?” She asked.

He didn’t answer. He wasn’t going to admit to her that he’d been watching her closely all this time. He hadn’t even realized it himself until just now - he was always watching her.

Kat crossed her arms over her chest when she realized he was going to stay silent. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and made her face go back to her usual neutral expression before saying, “I don’t think we should spend anymore time together.”

“At all? But what about training?” He said it before he could stop himself. 

“No,” she groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You know what I mean.”

Levi fought to keep his expression neutral, but he was sure he let a bit of a scowl slip out. “Fine. You want to stop? We’ll stop.”

She nodded once and uncrossed her arms. “We should get to the ODM course.”

He didn’t respond as she walked off. After a few seconds, he followed.

\----

At dinner that night, Kat ate quickly and silently, only speaking if someone asked her a direct question. If anyone noticed something was wrong, they didn't say anything to her.

She took her dishes to the kitchen and started to leave, looking for Zach. She found him in his usual spot, alone near the back wall. He was done eating and was just sitting and watching Eren and his group of friends talking and laughing. She approached and stood next to him. “Everything okay?” She asked.

He let out a deep breath. “No.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

He sighed again and stood up from his table. “No, but I will.”

“Maybe it'll make you feel better,” she said with a grin as she put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “Come on, let's go to my office.”

He followed her out the door. Levi fumed from his spot at the officer's table watching the two of them. He waited a minute and then left the hall as well.


	5. A Long Story

Kat closed the door behind them and motioned for Zach to sit in one of the armchairs in the corner. “You want some tea?” She asked.

“Sure, thanks,” he responded as he sat.

She walked over to her fireplace and spent a few minutes getting a fire going before hanging a metal kettle over the flames. She waited for the water, watching it closely. There was no hurry for her to sit down, she would wait for Zach to decide he was ready to talk without pushing him. Maybe they wouldn't talk at all, just sit and sip their tea until he left to go back to the barracks. “You like orange? I have a nice black tea with some dried orange peel mixed in,” she said as she opened the wooden tea box she kept near the fireplace. “I have some herbal and some green tea too if you prefer that.”

“Why did you kill your parents?” Zach asked.

Kat stopped for a moment, staring down at her assortment of teas. She knew the question would come eventually, but she wasn't expecting the abruptness. “Do you want the long version or the short version?” She asked.

“Whichever one you want to tell,” he answered.

She sighed and filled the infuser with the black tea before putting the kettle, the sugar bowl, two spoons, and two cups onto a tray. She spoke as she carried the tray over to the sitting area, “I think the long version will make more sense.” She sat down and leaned back in her armchair, crossing her fingers in front of her mouth. “When I was a kid, I was traveling somewhere in a carriage with my parents and my baby brother. I don't remember where we were going and I don't really remember the accident, I just remember that we crashed somehow and my brother was killed and both my parents were injured pretty bad.” She paused in her story to pour herself a cup of tea.

“You weren't injured?” Zach asked and made his own cup.

Kat shook her head as she sipped. “I don't know how, but I came out fine. Anyways, my parents were mourning, obviously, and they were in a lot of pain from their injuries, so the doctor gave them some pain medication that also had a sedative mixed in to help them sleep. They both got hooked on this medication and the doctor cut off their prescription to try and make them stop. But they were addicts, obviously, so instead they started getting something similar from the Underground. Pretty soon they were selling off our furniture to get the money to buy more." She paused to drink again. 

Zach watched her and sipped his own tea, patiently waiting for her to continue.

“Eventually we ran out of household items to sell, but lucky for my parents they had a young daughter who had hit puberty a year before and was starting to get her womanly shape.”

“Oh no,” Zach breathed into his cup.

She nodded. “They didn't even bother trying to come up with some lie to tell me, they just invited their dealer to our house one day and tried to hand me over.”

Zach scoffed and shook his head.

“Obviously I wasn’t going to let that happen so I acted in self defense and killed the drug dealer. My parents were upset about this and tried dragging me to the Underground themselves. I guess they were just going to trade me off to the first drug dealer they found? I don't know, but those were also ruled as self defense killings.”

“God,” Zach whispered and finished his tea. “And I thought I had a rough childhood.”

She shrugged. “I'm not the only one with a fucked up past. I feel like you kind of have to be a little fucked up or traumatized to want to join the Scouts in the first place." She paused to sip her tea. "I learned a long time ago that I just have to live with the decisions I make and try not to regret anything. I've got enough baggage as it is, I don't need to self inflict anything extra on myself.”

Zach didn't say anything, he just stared down into his tea cup.

“How old are you?” She asked.

“18.”

She grinned. “My little brother would have been 18 this year.” She stood and walked over to her desk. “You like whiskey?” She asked as she rummaged around in her drawers.

“I've never had it.”

She found the bottle she was looking for, buried in the back of a bottom drawer hidden under some journals. She grabbed two tin cups and went back to the sitting area before pouring their drinks. “Cheers,” she said as she held her cup up to him.

“Cheers,” he responded as he tapped the rim of his cup against hers.

\----

Levi stepped away from Kat's office, removing his ear from the door. How had he never heard about her past before? Because he had never bothered to ask. Now that he thought about it, he really didn't know anything about her. He'd never been compelled before to learn anything about her. But something was different now. Kat and Henderson's relationship was starting to get to him. This cadet knew more about Kat after two days than Levi knew after ten years.

Levi sighed and went back to his own office.

\----

Kat and Zach were late for breakfast again the next morning. This time it was due to the now-empty bottle of whiskey in the wastebasket in her office. Kat slumped at the officer's table, slowly chewing a hunk of plain bread and sipping water as she rested her cheek in her hand. Zach wasn't looking much better. He had been able to hold his liquor better than his petite superior, but it had been his first time drinking more than a gulp or two of watered-down moonshine. Kat had gotten so drunk that she had fallen asleep in her armchair and Zach had to drag her upstairs and throw her in bed. He hadn't undressed her or even put her under the blankets, just plopped her down and left.

Zach slowly ate his breakfast, thankful that it was a rest day. Otherwise he may have had to take a day in the infirmary to avoid training. He couldn't help but think about everything they had talked about the night before. Kat had a rough childhood, but it explained some of her personality. That coldness in her heart, the deadness in her eyes, the intensity in everything she did, her loneliness even when she was surrounded by people. It made sense to him because he felt the same way. He admired her strength and how unflappable she was, but he did not want to become her. He did not want to be alone in a world with so many uncertainties and dangers. He had spent his whole life alone, and that ended now.

Zach looked around the dining hall, which was mostly empty now that breakfast was almost over. His eyes scanned down the mostly vacant officer's table, landing momentarily on Kat who had fallen asleep leaning on her hand. He shook his head with a grin before continuing his scan. When his eyes landed on Captain Levi, he froze. The look the captain was giving him sent a shiver up his spine and raised all the hairs on the back of his neck. Zach quickly gathered his dishes, took them to the kitchen, and left the mess hall. 

\----

Levi watched Henderson go with a smug sense of satisfaction. He looked over at Kat and saw she was still sleeping. With a sigh, he got up from his chair and picked her up, slinging one of her arms around his shoulders and wrapping an arm around her waist. She stirred a little as he moved her, but she didn’t completely wake up.

They stumbled back to her office and he dropped her onto the couch in her sitting area. She groaned as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. She looked up at him and bristled, just now realizing what had happened. “What the hell, Levi?”

He poured her a glass of water and set it on the table next to her. “You fell asleep at breakfast. Are you feeling okay?”

“Hmph. I'm fine, just hungover.”

“Hungover?”

She took a long drink of water before responding, “Yeah, that's what I said.”

“I've never known you to drink, especially not so much that you're hungover the next morning.”

She shrugged. “Normally I don't.”

“Did something happen?” He was trying his hardest to pretend like he didn't know anything about the conversation she’d had with Henderson the night before.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I should be asking you that.”

He blinked. “What?”

“You're still acting strange.”

“Being concerned about my comrade's well-being is strange?”

She threw her hands in the air and said, “Yes!” like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Tch.” He had to think quick to come up with an excuse. “We’ve had a huge influx of recruits since Wall Maria fell four years ago. We've seen a lot of people die and we still have a lot to go. I want to make sure you're able to complete your duties.”

“Hmph,” she scoffed and stretched her arms over her head, both of her shoulders popping with the movement. “That's why we worked so well for so long, Levi. We both knew that everyday could be our last so it wasn't worth getting emotional and attached. Do you remember that conversation?”

He did remember it. It had happened soon after the first time they slept together when they were still trying to figure out what they were. Hormones and emotions were distractions they couldn't afford in the Survey Corps, so they used each other to work out those frustrations and keep level-headed. But they had decided it would never be more than that. “So you're not getting too attached to Henderson?” He hoped the question didn't sound too odd.

“Oh my God,” she muttered, her face in her hands. “Is that what this is about?”

“I just worry that you'll get too attached and then he'll die and you'll be useless as a soldier,” he half-lied. 

She knitted her eyebrows together and finally stood from the couch, all trace of sickness gone from her body. “Fuck you, Levi. Get out of my office.”

Why did he keep fucking this up? What the hell was wrong with him? He needed to just explain himself. He needed to tell her he never thought she would be useless, no matter who died. Needed to tell her he was just jealous and saying stuff he didn’t mean. But as he stood there, staring back at her as she glared holes into his forehead, he couldn't do it. Even now, even with her, he couldn't show that weakness.

And so he turned around and left.


	6. Attack on Trost

The next six months passed quickly. 

Kat had managed to avoid Levi for the most part, only interacting with him during expeditions and leadership meetings. Zach had finally made some friends in his class and was thriving. If he hadn't had such a late start, he would have easily graduated in the top ten and gotten the choice to join the Military Police. Kat and Zach still regularly spent time together training and talking. There were whispers about them, but both of them knew their relationship was strictly platonic and would only ever be that. They had bonded like siblings and were excited to finally get a chance to work together in the field. They couldn’t necessarily blame the others for speculating, though. After all, Zach was the only person Kat ever willingly spoke with. He was a young, attractive bachelor and, while older, she was still an attractive bachelorette.

It was graduation day for the 104th Cadet Corps. The Survey Corps left early that morning on an expedition to work on their supply line leading to Wall Maria. Kat had wanted to wait so that she could watch the graduation ceremony, but orders were orders. She would just have to make sure and celebrate with Zach when she got back.

\----

It was slow going with all the wagons, but Commander Erwin’s new traveling formation made the trip much easier than their past efforts. Avoiding titans was proving to be much more effective than trying to cut down every one they came across. Kat’s squad spread out along the upper left portion of the formation, acting as forward scouts for their area. Levi’s squad was in the upper right doing the same, Hange’s squad watched the right rear, and Mike’s squad watched the left rear. Another squad was circled around Erwin for protection and yet another circled the wagons as the last line of defense.

They arrived at an old military outpost they had decided on before. Luckily it appeared to still be in good condition despite the years of abandonment. Everyone took a quick break to tie up and water their horses before they got to work unloading wagons and reinforcing windows and doors in the stone tower. Kat's squad was on lookout duty, up in the trees around the perimeter where they had good sightlines in every direction. 

Off in the far distance back in the direction they had come from, Kat thought she saw smoke. No, not smoke. Steam. 

Titan steam.

She pulled up her spyglass and peered through it. She could just barely make out the size and shape of a titan standing taller than the wall surrounding Trost. She hadn't seen the Colossal Titan five years ago at Shiganshina, but based on the reports this had to be it. “Not again,” she whispered as she whistled for her horse. “Helena!” She barked at her nearest subordinate.

“Ma'am!” The woman replied. She was tall for a woman and had a short pixie haircut. She was Kat’s second-in-command.

“Take my lookout position, make sure we don't get boxed in, and get ready to leave,” Kat spoke quickly as she mounted her horse. “I have to find Commander Erwin. Wall Rose is falling.”

\----

Levi and Erwin were standing outside the tower supervising the modifications being made to the building. Levi wanted to go inside and clean the filthy building, but that would not be wise before the area was secured. The sound of thundering hooves made them turn and look over their shoulders. Kat was quickly approaching and she looked a bit rattled.

Everyone else who was outside also heard the hooves and stopped their work to watch her. Kat didn't even wait for her horse to stop before she hopped off the saddle, landing hard on her feet. “Commander!” She yelled as she stumbled forward, not even bothering to salute.

“What did you see?” Erwin asked.

“The Colossal Titan, Sir. At Trost!” Her eyes were wide, frantic. Levi hadn't seen her like this in a long time. Not since Wall Maria fell.

Erwin scowled and turned to face the tower. “Leave whatever you're doing and pack your horses! We ride out in fifteen minutes!” he shouted at everyone within earshot.

Everyone who heard shouted, “Sir!” and ran to the building to gather supplies and spread the order.

All of Erwin's squad leaders came running up to form an impromptu leadership meeting around the commander. “Levi, Hange, take your squads and leave right now,” he ordered.

They both quickly saluted and ran off to find their men.

“Kat, Mike, I need your squads to run point protecting the caravan as we ride back.” They both saluted. 

Mike ran off to find his squad, but Kat stayed still. “With all due respect, Commander, I think I'll be better utilized in Trost with Squad Levi and Squad Hange.”

“No,” he responded quickly. “I need your squad as our vanguard to make sure we get back to finish the fight. With your eyes and Mike's nose, I don't trust anyone else to make that happen.”

“Sir!” She said and finally left, retrieving her horse before riding along the perimeter to spread the order to her team.

\----

The ride back to Trost was painstakingly slow for everyone. They wanted to run full speed the whole way, but with the wagons it was impossible. Luckily they met with few titans again - it seemed most were drawn to the wall now, so there weren't many out on the road. Even at their reduced pace, Kat still saw Levi’s and Hange’s squad only a kilometer or two ahead of them the whole trip. 

Kat's squad made quick work of the one abnormal they had to engage. If there had been the normal amount of two or three abnormals every hour it would have been impossible for the single squad, but Erwin must have realized that most of the titans would be distracted by the situation in Trost and knew that her squad could handle it, even spread thin as they were. Kat had always admired his ability to think ahead and she appreciated the trust he held in her and her men.

The caravan stopped a kilometer or two away from the wall, hiding behind a hill to keep from being spotted and swarmed by the titans loitering outside the wall. It was nearly dark out now. Kat, Mike, and Erwin climbed the hill to assess the situation, all three peering through their spy glasses.

“No sign of the Colossal or the Armored,” Kat said.

“I didn't expect to see them. The last time they attacked they disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared. They didn't stick around to fight once they broke the gates,” Erwin responded.

“It looks like no more titans are entering the hole in the outer gate,” Mike said.

“Odd,” Erwin started and put his fist to his chin, thinking. “They must have plugged the hole somehow.”

“Shall I go for a status report, sir?” Kat asked.

He nodded. “Take your fastest rider. Send them back once we know the situation.”

“Sir!” She dropped her spyglass and ran back to the rest of the caravan, looking for Helena.

\----

The two women approached from farther down the wall, not wanting to directly approach the titans concentrated around the broken gate. As they approached, they could see the two advance squads’ horses standing patiently in a clearing, grazing and waiting for their riders to return. Kat told Helena to stay with the horses while she scaled the wall for a quick status report.

It was chaos. Houses were crushed, blood was everywhere, titan steam rose from every alley and walkway, and bodies littered the rooftops and roadways. It was like dejavu, she was transported right back to that day in Shiganshina five years before. Kat scanned her eyes along the inner wall, looking for holes, but saw none. And there was no sign of the Armored or Colossal Titans. She could see Levi's and Hange's squad zipping around killing titans. She continued her scan along the walls, finally coming to the point where the outer gate had been destroyed. A gigantic boulder sat in the hole, sealing it.

She rappelled down the outside wall and told Helena what she saw. Helena left Kat's horse and rode hard and fast back to Erwin. Kat ascended the wall once more before jumping down into the fray.

\----

It took Kat nearly thirty minutes to fight her way to the back of the town, killing every titan she came across and checking bodies in the street to see if anyone was still alive.

They were not.

She stopped on a rooftop and looked around, panting. There were so many titans left, it didn't really feel like they were making any progress, and she was low on gas. She had just enough left to get her to the inner wall. She could see the rest of the Scouts starting to appear over the top of the southern wall. They had finally arrived. She let out a sigh of relief and made her way to the inner wall. She wanted to keep fighting, but she was useless with no gas. She would let her comrades with their full tanks take care of the fight from now on. She needed a chance to rest and regain her energy before she refueled and went back to the fight. 

She scaled the inner wall and met up with everyone else standing along the top. The crowd was much thinner than normal; a large number of soldiers were dead. Off to her left, she spotted Zach getting bandaged up by Levi. Zach's right arm was in a sling and he had some cuts on his face. Levi was uninjured as usual. They both looked exhausted. She jogged over and dropped to Zach’s side, wrapping her arms around the tall man's shoulders in a hug. “Zach I'm so glad you're okay,” she said, doing her best not to squeeze or smoosh his injured arm.

Levi watched them hug, realizing immediately that they weren't caught in a lover's embrace. This was a hug shared between family reuniting after a long time apart. He had heard the circulating rumors about them, of course, and had formed his own opinions as well, but now he saw that he had been wrong. He frowned to himself, knowing he had been jealous and ruined whatever it was he had with Kat over literally nothing. 

Zach hugged her back with his good arm and said, “I wouldn't be okay if Captain Levi hadn't found me.”

Kat pulled away and looked up at Levi who was now standing next to them. “You saved him?” She asked.

“Tch. I knew you would kill me if I let this brat die,” he said sarcastically.

She stood, took a quick step forward, and wrapped her arms around Levi's neck, pulling her entire body flush against his as she buried her face in his neck. “Thank you,” she said into his sweaty skin.

He hesitated for a second before hugging her back. He had been expecting some smart ass comeback, or at least her usual icy glare. He didn’t think they had ever hugged in all their time together, but it felt amazing. He hadn’t realized how much he missed the feeling of her body against his. He had to fight himself to keep from burying his face in her hair and never letting her go. “You’re welcome,” he said into the side of her head as he pulled her in just a little bit tighter.

She involuntarily let out a contented sigh and pressed her hips a little more into his.

“Captain!” Someone shouted from behind them.

Kat jumped back and tucked her arms behind her back, willing herself not to blush.

The same person shouted, “Your orders, Sir?”

Levi scowled at the soldier before looking at Kat and asking, “Did the rest of the Scouts make it into Trost yet?”

“Yes sir,” she said quickly. “They arrived about ten minutes ago.”

“Orders are to wait for Erwin, he should be here soon,” Levi said to the soldier. “It’s no use going back out and fighting more, it’ll be completely dark soon.”

The soldier saluted and walked away. Levi turned back to Kat, but she was already squatting down next to Zach speaking quietly. He sighed and walked away. He needed to gather information about the titan shifter he had watched plug the gate.


	7. Attack on Trost Part 2

The Survey Corps and the other soldiers that were too injured to fight were ordered back to the main military base inside Wall Rose to resupply and fix their gear. Escorting the remaining civilians to safety and monitoring the situation in Trost was being left to the Garrison regiment and the newly-graduated 104th Cadet Corps. 

Erwin and his squad leaders were the last to enter the base. They conferred momentarily, talking about the headcount each of them had taken and agreeing that it was depressingly low. The officers went their separate ways with the agreement to meet again first thing in the morning to discuss the day’s events. Kat checked in her gear at the armory and dragged herself to her office. She was exhausted, but she was alive. Zach was alive. Levi was alive. And Levi had saved Zach. Even though he hated the cadet. All because it would have upset her for Zach to die. Eventually she was going to have to talk to Levi, but right now she just wanted some green tea and a shower.

In the distance, inside Trost, she could still see streams of smoke and titan steam snaking up into the night sky. Tomorrow was going to be Hell, but for now she could rejoice in the fact that they had won. All the battles they had fought over the years, and they had finally won. 

\---- 

Zach was almost back to the barracks when he heard his name being called. He turned and saw Greta running up to him. She was a pretty girl in the 106th Cadet Corps that he had gotten to know since she enlisted a year before. “Hi Greta,” he greeted with a tired grin as he turned to face her.

She stopped in front of him, looking at his sling. “You're hurt?” She asked.

“I'll be fine, it's just a precaution after I fell and landed on my shoulder,” he reassured her. He wasn’t going to tell her that he’d fallen because a titan had swiped at him in the air and knocked him off balance. He'd been lucky that the titan had just batted him like a cat instead of grabbing him. He was also lucky that Captain Levi had been nearby and came to save him.

She took a step closer to him. “I'm glad you're okay, I was really worried when I heard all the new graduates were supposed to fight.”

He grinned again. “Thanks for thinking of me. You're very sweet.”

She blushed and took another step forward. She was nearly touching him now. “And I think you're very brave,” she said and quickly stood on her tiptoes to press a light kiss on his lips.

It only lasted for a second - he didn't even have a chance to respond.

She blushed even harder, turned around, and jogged off, yelling, “Good night Zach!” over her shoulder as she retreated.

He watched her for a moment before bringing his uninjured hand up to his lips, smiling a little at the lingering sensation there.

\----

Kat slept like a rock that night. It was the first full night's sleep she had gotten in years. A beam of sunlight pouring through a crack in the curtain woke her up the next morning. She groaned and rolled onto her stomach, covering her head with her pillow.

Downstairs, there was a knock at her door.

She groaned again, this time with expletives mixed in, as she got up. She took a few steps down toward her office, shouted, “Give me a minute!” at whoever was at the door, and went back into her room to put some clothes on. She didn’t bother with her full uniform - she would come back after breakfast and get fully dressed. She came back downstairs and unlocked and opened her office door. Zach was standing there.

“Good morning, Lieutenant!” He said as he saluted.

“At ease, Zach, do you know what time it is?” She asked with a scowl.

“6:15, ma’am!”

“Why are you here?”

He dropped his overly-formal posture as he spoke next, “I know you’re going to be busy with meetings over the next few days so I figured I’d help you with all your paperwork. I was in Trost the whole time so I saw more KIA than you - I can help you with their names.”

She sighed and dug her knuckles into her eyes in an effort to rub out the sleepiness. “Thank you.” She looked down at his right arm, still nestled in a sling against his chest. “It’s a good thing you’re left-handed, huh?”

He grinned. “Let’s get some breakfast.”

\----

The mess hall was alight with animated conversation. Kat had figured everyone would be up early - you don’t sleep well after a tragedy like yesterday - but she never would have expected everyone to be so lively. But then again, all the past encounters with titans had resulted in needless deaths with no real progress. This was the first time that soldier deaths had not been in vain.

Kat quickly got her breakfast and joined the rest of the officers at the small head table. She sat between Hange and Mike with Erwin and Levi across from them. Kat was the only one not in full uniform. “Any news from Trost?” She asked as she spooned sugar into her tea.

Erwin nodded. “The boulder Yaeger used to block the hole seems to have worked. For the next few days everyone is on clean up duty to get the town ready for the civilians to come back. Officers from each branch will be on a rotation to supervise the work, but we’re expected to spend most of our time filling out reports and notifying the families of the deceased.”

She nodded and sipped her tea. 

“Levi, I want you and Kat on first shift in Trost. With the sun coming up, the titans will start to get more active and I want the two of you there to assist while the numbers are still so large.”

“Yes sir,” Kat said into the rim of her cup without looking up.

Levi didn’t say anything.

They left the mess hall as soon as Kat finished her breakfast. Levi waited outside her office while she put on her ODM harness and the rest of her uniform. They walked silently to the armory to check out their gear before walking to the stables to saddle their horses. It was an awkward walk, both of them wanting to say something but neither of them speaking. It was easier once they were on horseback, because they both switched to soldier mode and let their work distract them.

\----

It took a full day of constant fighting before anyone could confidently say that Trost was free of titans. It took another two days to clear the town of the bodies and record all the names of those who had died. Zach had kept his word and helped Kat the entire time with her paperwork. With his injury, he wasn’t expected to help with the bodies, but he still felt the need to contribute in some way. He was able to give her insight into a lot of the people whose names she was writing down - it helped make the letters to families more personal.

Levi and Erwin were meeting with Yaeger right now. Kat hoped that this cadet, this kid, was what Erwin had said he was. She hoped that his family’s basement in Shiganshina was worth everything they were going to have to endure over the months and years to come. She hoped that their luck would continue and they would win more battles against the titans. She hoped that one day they would all be free.

The first time that Zach cried during their letter writing, Kat just let him have some space. Everyone grieved in their own way and there was no shame in crying - it meant you were human. The second time that he cried, she approached him and wrapped him in a hug, pulling his head into her shoulder. He was seated, but with their height difference, she only had to bend a little to get to eye level with him.

“Does it ever get easier?” He sobbed into her shirt.

“No, it never does, but you wanna know how I cope?”

He nodded.

“There's this old Sloan funeral prayer. Just kind of a mashup of some ancient poetry and phrases, but it always makes me feel better." She cleared her throat before continuing, "Though we are strapped to a wheel, we shall not break. We must remember that death has no dominion here. We can shed tears that they are gone, or smile because they lived.”

Zach's body racked with another sob and Kat pulled him in tighter. “This is our life in the Survey Corps, Zach. If you're going to join my team, you need to know that, and you need to come to terms with it.”

He took a deep breath and slowly released it as he pulled away from her. She stood and took a step back from him, waiting patiently for him to gather his thoughts and speak again. 

He took a few seconds to wipe the tears from his eyes before he cleared his throat and spoke. “I can come to terms with it and I will learn to cope because I need to be a part of the fight to end this.”

Kat grinned down at him and patted his shoulder before going back to her chair and sitting down. She hoped that whatever he found to help him cope was a healthy outlet. Too many soldiers were ruined by alcoholism, drug addiction, and lust. She would do everything in her power to keep him from committing the same mistakes.


	8. The Newest Member of Squad Levi

After Eren’s trial a few days later, Erwin and his squad leaders stood together in a small room above the courtroom. Kat stood next to Mike who was staring out the window at the city below them. Hange was tending to Eren’s wounds that Levi had inflicted. Kat couldn’t help but smirk at the brunette’s enthusiasm to study Eren and his injuries. Levi looked over at Kat, momentarily meeting her gaze before she looked away. She turned to look out the window with Mike as Erwin formally welcomed Eren to the Survey Corps. Kat just continued to listen to the conversation, distracting herself with the sights and sounds on the other side of the window. She had never liked trips to the interior. They always reminded her of when her parents had brought her here and tried to drag her down into the Underground. 

She was so absorbed in her thoughts she didn't notice that everyone has filed out of the room, leaving her and Levi alone. They watched each other, once again knowing that both of them wanted to say something but neither of them saying anything.

“I want you to join my squad,” he said finally.

She blinked. “What?”

“If something happens to me, I’ll need you to kill Eren if he gets out of control.”

“Isn’t that what your current squad is for?” She asked.

“I trust you more than them.”

She blinked again. “Come again?”

He stared at her with that trademark neutrality. “You heard me.”

“Hpmh. Is that an order?” She asked. “Because you’re not my commanding officer.”

“Tch. I still outrank you.”

“Hmph. Like I care.”

“Don’t make me talk to Erwin. You know I can convince him that it’s the smart thing to do.”

She crossed her arms and frowned. "I have my own squad to lead, Levi. The Survey Corps does not revolve around you.”

He stared at her. He never could get used to her talking back to him. He scoffed once more and left the room.

\----

At their next leadership meeting a few days later, Erwin announced to his squad leaders that he was planning a short expedition in a month. “It will include the new recruits joining us at tonight’s ceremony,” Erwin was explaining.

New recruits. That meant Zach would be coming. Even though his shoulder was just now healing. Kat was going to have to push him hard in his training to make sure he was ready in time.

“Kat, I would like you to travel with Levi’s squad for this mission,” Erwin said as he looked at her.

She blinked. “Sir?”

“If something happens to Levi, I want you to be the backup to kill Eren if he gets out of control.”

Kat fought the urge to glare at Levi as she asked Erwin, “What about my squad, sir?”

“I believe Helena is more than capable of filling your role as squad leader for this expedition.”

She held back a growl as she finally allowed herself to scowl at Levi. He didn’t look at her.

“Understood?” Erwin asked when he got no response.

Clenching her jaw and balling her fists, she responded, “Yes, Commander.”

\----

Kat fumed through the rest of the afternoon and throughout dinner, imagining the hell she was going to rain down upon Levi. He wasn’t at the recruitment ceremony that night, but Petra was. “Everything okay, Lieutenant?” She asked Kat at one point.

Kat wasn’t able to wipe the scowl from her face as she said, “Yes, thank you, I am fine.”

Petra cocked an eyebrow, looking like she wanted to ask more, but decided against it.

The next morning, Petra and Kat rode out from the base heading for the old HQ that was currently housing Levi’s squad. Petra was trying to make conversation, telling Kat all about the work they had done to the castle to get it ready for everyone’s arrival, but all Kat could do as she rode was frown. She wasn’t supposed to be here, with this woman she barely knew, riding to go rendezvous with a squad that wasn’t hers. She didn’t want the responsibility of backup-Eren-killer. It’s not that she didn’t think she could do it - she had done worse in her past. But maybe that’s exactly why she had been chosen for the job.

Petra finally gave up on talking once the castle was in sight. As soon as they entered the grounds, Kat jumped down from her horse and put her in the stables. She made a fast job of unsaddling, brushing, feeding, and watering the mare before she grabbed her pack and stormed into the castle. 

Levi was waiting for her in the grand foyer.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” She asked angrily as she approached him, getting so close that their chests were nearly touching.

“Right now, I think I’m you’re commanding officer,” he answered with just a hint of a smirk.

“Like hell you are. You’re just some bully who can’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“You’ve been assigned to my squad.”

“That doesn’t make you my CO.”

“I still outrank you.” 

This argument was giving them both a case of deja vu.

“Like that’s ever mattered before.”

Before. Back when they were still sleeping together. How long had it been since then? Six months? No, longer than that. Now, standing this close to him, she felt an ache in the pit of her stomach, an ache from not being touched for so long. It was his scent - soap and shampoo and leather conditioner just barely masking the natural smell of his skin. She had made a point to avoid getting this close to him since they ended their arrangement, but now all she could think about was reaching out, grabbing the front of his jacket, and pulling him down onto her. She had had the same feeling that day at Trost, when she had hugged him for saving Zach. 

“Are you blushing?” He asked.

She cleared her throat and stepped back, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths to will away the heat she felt in her face and between her legs. “No, I’m just angry.”

“Tch. Whatever you say,” he said. He recognized that look that had flashed in her eyes. It was the same look she used to give him across the table in the dining hall. The look that meant she would be coming to his office after dinner. It took all of his willpower not to kiss her.

They stared awkwardly at each other for a moment before the front doors opened once more. Petra must have sensed the awkwardness when she entered the building because she stopped just inside the door and stared at the two of them. "Is everything okay?” She asked.

“Yes Petra we're fine,” Levi answered, his expression blank as he looked at Kat.

Kat did her best to match his expression. But she could tell that he had seen right through her. She was going to have to be even more on guard from now on.

\----

Kat kept herself occupied with cleaning duty over the next few days, making sure she was either outside on the grounds or in a room with another person at all times. She wasn't going to let Levi sneak up on her and suddenly appear when she was alone. She didn't think she had the willpower to resist him anymore. Even with all the headaches and grief he caused her, she felt drawn to him. If anyone noticed her uncharacteristic extroversion, they didn't say anything. In the years Squad Levi had known Kat, she had kept to herself and only spoken when spoken to. Now she was volunteering to help others with their tasks and sometimes even attempting to strike up idle conversation - as bad as it was.

Luckily for Kat, her squad showed up a day earlier than the rest of the regiment. Kat and Eld had seen the squad approaching from their vantage point cleaning the common room on the second floor of the castle. Levi's squad came outside to meet Kat's squad by the stables and help them unload their gear and supplies. 

“You're early,” had been the first thing Levi had said to any of them.

Helena nodded as she answered his rhetorical question. “Lieutenant had expressed her desire to train Zach herself so we came as soon as he was cleared for physical activity.”

“Good to hear,” Kat said. “Zach, go pick out your room and we can get started.”

“Ma'am!” He said with a salute before jogging up to the castle, knapsack in hand.

“Everyone else, pick a room and get some lunch. I'm sure the Captain has a list of chores he'd like you to do before everyone else gets here tomorrow.”

“Ma'am!” They mirrored Zach and jogged into the castle as well. Levi's squad followed.

Kat waited patiently outside. Levi stood next to her, showing no interest in following his squad back inside the castle. She didn't look at him.

“You've been avoiding me,” he said quietly once they were completely alone.

“Yup,” she answered simply.

“Why?” He asked.

“You know why,” she responded with a sideways look at him.

“Can we talk about it, at least?”

“I don't think that's a good idea,” she said as Zach came walking out of the castle.

“I disagree,” he responded, turning to face her.

She turned away from him and started walking away with Zach. “Thank you for your input, Captain. But we'll have to agree to disagree,” she said over her shoulder.

Levi watched them go with a scowl.

Once they were out of earshot, Zach leaned down and asked, “What was that about?”

Kat sighed. “It's a long story.”

“Is it fucked up like the last long story you told me?” He asked, referencing the story of how she became an orphan.

“Mmm… kind of.”

“Then I don't think I want to hear it.”

“Sir!” She said sarcastically with a salute like he had given her an order.

He chuckled. “You know that new cadet Greta?” He asked a few moments later.

“The pretty redhead who's been following you around like a lost puppy?”

He blushed. “She kissed me after that day in Trost.”

“Really? I hadn't pinned her as the bold type,” Kat said as she patted her subordinate on the shoulder. “Good for you. It'll be good for you to work out any frustrations you might have before expeditions.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I'm sorry?”

“You know,” she started, making a vague gesture with her hands. “Pent up frustrations? That might be distracting when you're out in the field?”

His eyebrows knitted together. “I don't get it.”

She sighed, slapping her hands down at her sides. “What are you, a virgin?”

He blushed and stayed silent, looking away from her.

“Oh,” she said when she realized that his silence meant ‘yes’. “I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. I just assumed… you know… you're a good looking guy and all.”

He sighed. “Please stop.”

She nodded and shut her mouth. They walked in silence for a few steps before he spoke again.

“We've kissed a few more times since then. Do you think I should ask her to be my girlfriend?”

She sighed. “I find that relationships lead people to make bad decisions. You start thinking with your emotions instead of logic and maybe you make a wrong call because you're trying to protect a certain person instead of finishing the mission.”

“Are you happy, thinking like that?” He asked.

She shrugged. “Does my happiness really matter in the grand scheme of things?”

“Maybe not, but I think we live too close to death everyday to not let ourselves be happy. Especially us Scouts.”

“You're not worried about your emotions getting the better of you?” She asked.

“It's better than pretending I don't have any emotions at all,” he said with a sideways glance at her.

She didn't respond. They were at the training grounds now so she had a good excuse to change the subject.


	9. The 57th Expedition

So far, the 57th expedition had been a disaster. When they had still been out in the open, the flares signaling abnormals had crowded the sky. Kat hating seeing it without being able to do anything about it, but she had been given her orders. Stay with Levi. Protect Eren. If Eren got out of hand and Levi was otherwise unavailable, kill Eren.

Levi rode in the front leading his squad with Eren less than two lengths behind him. Kat was less than two lengths behind Eren and the rest of the squad trailed behind her. Soon, their squad was in the forest and panic started to set in. Kat wondered how Levi would handle his team's morale in this stressful situation full of unknowns. She had never directly worked with him before and she was curious of his leadership style. Kat stayed silent when the Female Titan appeared, trying to maintain the same cool demeanor as Levi. There was enough panic as it was, they didn't need her contribution.

“Your orders, Captain?!” His squad yelled.

“Captain, we have to fight!”

“Captain, the reinforcements from behind are getting slaughtered!”

“Captain we should switch to ODM!”

“Captain! Your orders Sir!”

“Let him think!” Kat finally shouted at them. “How's he supposed to come up with a plan when you keep yelling at him?” She shouted again, sending a scowl to each person in turn.

Everyone shut their mouths and looked at her. They were all sweating profusely, scared senseless.

A moment of silence passed before Levi looked back at them, “Everyone cover your ears.” They did as he ordered and he fired an acoustic round. “Our mission is to protect this brat, no matter what,” he said once the ringing sound had subsided. “We push ahead on horseback.”

An argument ensued where Eren questioned Levi's orders. Kat could understand the recruit’s frustration. She could also understand the difficulty of Levi's decision, though she didn't quite understand the logic behind it. But really, she wasn't sure what she would do in his shoes, so she couldn't judge his choices.

And then they were running past hidden Scouts and cannons.

“Fire!” Erwin shouted from behind them and the cannons shot out thick cables tipped with large barbs, impaling the Female Titan and immobilizing her. Levi and his team kept riding. 

“Kat, you’re with me. Everyone else, ride ahead away from the Female Titan and keep Eren safe,” Levi ordered. 

“Sir!” They all shouted. 

Levi and Kat stood on their saddles, getting ready to launch into the trees. “Watch our horses,” he said as they deployed their cables and shot upward.

\----

Kat stood with Erwin high in a tree, both of them watching as Levi taunted the Female Titan below.

“Commander,” Kat started and looked up at him.

“Yes?” The massive blond responded.

“Why wasn't I told about the true nature of the expedition?”

“The only ones who knew the full plan were Hange and myself. Even Levi didn’t know the ultimate goal. All I told him was that I needed him to lure any abnormals to this spot in the forest.”

But that message had not been passed on to Kat. She felt insulted. She was used to not being involved in the planning process, but she had never been kept completely in the dark before. She thought to voice her displeasure, but didn’t have a chance before the Female Titan started screaming. Chaos ensued as they were suddenly swarmed with titans.

“Protect the Female Titan with your lives!” Erwin ordered and everyone immediately obeyed, jumping down and attacking the horde beneath them. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to matter how many they killed. Even with dozens of steaming corpses littering the ground, the Female Titan was being devoured.

“Retreat!” Erwin gave the order and everyone abandoned the fight, going back high in the trees and watching in despair as the plan unraveled before their eyes.

Levi, Kat, and Mike came back to the branch that Erwin was standing on to retrieve their next orders.

“I’m ordering a full retreat, pass on the message,” their commander said sullenly as he fired a blue flare into the air.

“Sir,” They all responded and turned to walk off.

“Kat,” Levi said as he stopped her from launching her ODM cables.

She turned back to face him. He stepped toward her and put a hand on her shoulder, leaning in to quietly say, “I’m going to find my squad. You avoid any conflict.”

“What?” She snapped, grinding her molars to hide her scowl. 

“You are my backup. You are not allowed to die.” She started to argue, but the look in his eyes made her stop. “That’s an order, Lieutenant.”

“Hmph. Sir,” she said sarcastically as she yanked her shoulder out of his grasp. “I will go find my squad and join in the retreat.”

He didn’t answer, just continued looking at her. She gritted her teeth again and launched off the branch.

\----

Kat whistled for her horse and waited a moment for her to appear before rappelling down the tree and heading out alone toward the right edge of the forest where her team should have been stationed. With all the titans still concentrated where the Female Titan sat, she was able to set a fast pace through the thick forest.

And then her horse stumbled on something, tumbling forward and throwing Kat hard into the thorny underbrush. As she struggled to untangle her ODM gear from the vines, she could hear her horse whinnying in agony nearby. She needed to hurry up and put the poor creature out of its misery before it attracted every titan left in the forest. Kat took out her dagger to cut through the vines and branches, being careful not to cut herself in the process. When she was free, she ran to her horse and saw the cause of her pained cries: one of her front legs had a bone sticking out through the skin. Kat quickly knelt down and sliced her injured companion’s throat before grabbing her pack and taking to the trees.

It took a moment for her to get her bearings again and find the correct direction. She strapped on her pack and continued on her way.

\---- 

The right side of the forest was deserted. She could see hoof prints on the ground and chunks of bark missing from trees where ODM anchors had been deployed, but there were no signs of current occupation. The blue smoke from the “retreat” flares was still drifting slowly in the air, mostly dissipated at this point.

She turned and moved to the northern edge of the forest in the direction of the retreat. Off in the distance she could see where the Scouts were congregating at the rendezvous point. She fumbled around in her pack for her flares, trying to find the pink one that signaled a distress call. When she couldn’t find the metal box, she realized she had never grabbed it off of her horse. She had been in such a hurry to get off the ground that she had completely forgotten about it. She had a flare gun but no flares. And by the time she went back to her horse to get the flares, no one would be around to see it. She slumped against the trunk of the tree she was standing on and watched the movements of the tiny people and horses. The sun was starting to set now - they would be leaving soon. They must have already finished their sweep of the forest to retrieve bodies.

Kat looked down at her hands, stained with her horse's blood. With no flares and no horse, there was no way she could get back to civilization. She was stuck out in Titan country with two days’ worth of rations, a canteen of water, a clean uniform folded in her pack, and her ODM gear. “I never thought I’d die like this,” she whispered to herself. With a deep sigh, she pulled her dagger back out and set the blade to her wrist. She wasn’t going to let herself starve to death out here - better to end it now without suffering. She assumed that bleeding out would be like falling asleep. At least she hoped it would be like that.

She pressed the blade into her skin, hissing at the pain of steel cutting her flesh, but stopped when she heard an odd noise. She closed her eyes and cocked her head, trying to zero in on what it was. It was something familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Her eyes snapped open when she finally recognized what it was. It was crying. There was a human crying nearby. She put the blade back into its sheath. “Hello!” She called out loudly. It had to be another Scout - it couldn’t be anybody else.

The crying stopped and a man responded in a shaky voice, “Hello?”

“Come to my voice, I’m at the outer edge near the road!” She called again.

“I can’t, my arm is injured. I can’t use my ODM gear,” he answered.

“Okay that’s fine, I’ll come to you,” she said and zoomed off in the direction the voice was coming from.

When the man came into view, she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Zach.

“Lieutenant?” he asked with wide eyes as she landed next to him on the wide branch.

She ran forward and slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his chest. He wrapped his left arm around her and squeezed tightly, crying into the top of her head. “I can’t fucking believe it,” he said between sobs.

She had dozens of questions running through her head. It was hard to decide which one she wanted answered first. “Why didn’t you retreat?” She asked.

“I tried, but I was being chased by a titan, so I switched to ODM to kill it, and I did, but then my gear jammed and I slammed into this tree and dislocated my shoulder,” he explained.

Now that she looked, she realized his right arm was hanging limply at his side. The same shoulder he injured during the attack on Trost. Apparently he hadn’t healed as completely as the medics thought and he had reinjured himself.

“What about you? Why didn't you retreat?” He asked.

“I went to find you guys, but my horse broke her leg running through the trees. By the time I got back everyone was already at the rendezvous. Where’s the rest of the squad?” Someone else should have been with him when he was retreating. Someone who could have come back and picked him up despite his injuries.

Tears pooled in his eyes again. “They’re all dead.”

Her eyes went wide. “What?”

“That Female Titan drew a horde to the right flank. We were all overwhelmed. I just barely managed to get away.”

She finally pulled away from him and sat down. “My God.”

He sat down in front of her. “What do we do?”

She thought for a moment, her head swimming with possibilities. “First thing’s first, we need to assess the three levels of our situation.”

He nodded and tried to wipe the tears from his eyes. “Okay.”

“First level is your body. Treating any injuries you may have. You said your shoulder is dislocated?”

He nodded again.

“Okay, so the first thing we need to do is fix that,” she said as she stood and motioned for him to stay seated. “You keep doing this and I’m going to have to teach you how to fix it yourself,” she teased, trying to lighten the mood a little.

He didn’t respond, just grimaced and braced for the pain.

She walked around behind him and put one hand just above the dislocated joint while the other went to his bicep. She heard his breaths sharpen and saw his ears turning red as she slid her hand up to his armpit, trying to gauge the severity of the dislocation. “Okay take a big, deep breath. You’re going to slowly release it and on three I’ll pop it back in. Don’t tense up or hold your breath. I don’t want to tear anything,” she explained.

He nodded and took in a deep, shaky breath.

As he released it, she counted, “One… two…” and pulled up and out on his arm while simultaneously shoving down on his shoulder blade.

He hissed and fell forward, clutching at his elbow. “Damn it I knew you weren’t going to wait for three.”

She stepped back around in front of him and sat down again. “How’s it feel?”

He carefully lifted up his arm just enough to test the mobility. “Hurts, but not as bad as when Captain Levi put it back in last time.” He put his arm back down. “He didn’t even bother counting.”

Kat grinned and dug around in her pack for her extra uniform shirt, pulling it out to make a field sling for his arm. “Okay, and I just have some minor scratches, so our injuries are taken care of now. Next, let’s look at our supplies.” They set their packs in front of them, combining everything into a single inventory. Two full canteens of water, five rations, most of a female’s uniform in size small, two sets of ODM gear, four sets of blades, a single pink flare, and a flare gun. “Why do you have a flare but no gun?” Kat asked.

“Helena said I should always keep a distress flare on my person in case I end up stranded without my supplies. I guess I dropped my gun when I slammed into the tree.”

She nodded. “She taught you well.” _Too bad I didn't take that advice._ “Unfortunately the Scouts are long gone now so the flare’s pretty useless to us.”

He nodded. “Maybe we can use it to light a fire if we need one.”

“Maybe,” she agreed halfheartedly. She didn’t see much of a reason for a fire in their situation.

“What next?” He asked.

“Next we assess our surroundings. We’re sheltered by the forest canopy and this branch is wide enough for us to sleep on, even if it’s uncomfortable. We’re high enough up to avoid the titans, and we’re a long way from home.”

“How far away are we?” He asked.

She thought for a moment, visualizing the map of the area inside Wall Maria and doing some calculations. “We’re about 150 kilometers from the gate to Karanes.”

“With no horse,” he added.

She nodded. “But, as the crow flies, we’re only about 50 kilometers from Wall Rose.”

“Still with no horse.”

She nodded again.

“So, my question stands: what next?”

They both thought. What could they do, really? If they stayed put, it would be another month at least before the Scouts left for another expedition, and there was no guarantee they would even travel back in this direction. If they made a run for it, they would never make it out in the open. They couldn’t outrun titans, and they wouldn't be able to travel at night without torches.

“How long before the next full moon?” Zach asked. 

“I think three days?” she answered.

“What if we leave then?” He suggested.

She nodded. “What about once we get to the wall? We’ll have to get over somehow. How much gas do you have left?”

He checked his tanks. “Enough to scale the wall high enough to get above the titans. Maybe enough to get to the top. You?”

She checked her tanks. “Same.”

“We could get up on the wall and fire our flare. Someone would have to see it and come investigate. We can just hang from the wall until someone comes and gets us.”

“If we do that, we’ll have to time it to fire the flare in daylight. That means getting to the wall close to dawn. We won’t be able to hang from our ODM gear all night.”

“How long do you think it’ll take us to walk there?” He asked.

“Normally we could probably average four and a half kilometers per hour, so that’s more than ten hours of walking with no breaks. And that’s at our normal pace. We’ll run out of food and water in two days and we’ll be sleep deprived by the time we leave. So, dehydrated, hungry, and tired we can maybe average two kilometers per hour. That makes 25 hours of walking, assuming we don’t stop for breaks.”

Zach sighed deeply. “What if I try to whistle for my horse?”

Kat shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt. Assuming he’ll stick around nearby until we’re ready to go.”

“I’ll try it,” he said and started whistling.

They waited.

He whistled again.

They waited.

He was getting ready to whistle once more when they heard hoofbeats coming down the road. Zach’s massive black stallion came trotting up, snorting happily. He was one of the only horses in the regiment big enough to carry Zach for long distances. “Dudley!” Zach shouted down. “Who’s such a good boy? Who's the smartest horse in the whole goddamn military?”

“You named your horse Dudley?” Kat asked with a cocked eyebrow. "What kind of name is that for a military horse?"

Zach ignored her, continuing to shower his horse in praise. Then, speaking like Dudley understood him, Zach said, “Okay Dud, hang around nearby for now but make sure you eat and drink. We’ll leave in a few days.” Dudley swished his tail, snorted, and walked off. Kat continued staring at her subordinate. Zach sat back on the branch and spoke again, “He’ll have bad saddle sores after four days so we’ll have to ditch the saddle and ride bareback.”

“Assuming he’s still here when we leave.”

He frowned. “Kat, everything we’re planning is based on crazy assumptions.”

“Fair point.”

“So, riding normally Dud and I can average 30 kilometers per hour no problem. Bareback with two passengers, let’s say 10.”

“That cuts it down to five hours of travel.”

“So that's the plan then. Rest until the full moon, head straight to the wall, attach ourselves to the wall, and fire a distress flare,” he said, his fingers on his chin in thought.

Both of their eyes went wide as they realized that they might actually survive after all.

And so they waited. And they rested. And they mourned their fallen comrades. And they talked about the future.


	10. Homecoming

Life at the castle had been tense since the Survey Corps arrived back from the 57th expedition. Everyone was mourning the many, many dead. All of the officers were busy filing reports and informing closest living relatives of those killed and missing in action. And the remaining officers were trying to devise a plan to keep Eren in their custody. Seven people were missing in action. Five of them were only marked MIA because their bodies were too mutilated to bring home and Erwin wanted to spare the families the awful sight. Only two were actually MIA: Katherine Sloan and Zacharius Henderson. Katherine's dead horse had been found, but not her. Someone had spotted Henderson retreating, but when they did a headcount at the rendezvous, he wasn’t there.

Levi walked past Kat's room everyday on his way to the dining hall. People had started leaving flowers outside the door, but he couldn't help but have this surreal feeling that any minute now she'd open her door and walk out into the hallway. It just didn't seem real that she was gone. Not after all these years of expeditions where she came home unscathed. And he had never gotten the balls to tell her how he felt. Everyone that was injured had been given some well-deserved extended time off after the expedition in addition to the normal four days of leave given to all returning soldiers. Levi was especially thankful for this as he was nearly useless with his hurt leg. He could barely walk around and could only comfortably ride his horse at a walking pace.

It was early in the morning of the fourth day after the expedition. In two days, the Scout leadership and Eren were expected in the capital for another hearing. Tomorrow, the remaining Scouts were supposed to resume training like they didn't just lose a huge percentage of their comrades in a failed mission. Like they weren't all still in mourning. Levi was just buttoning up his civilian dress shirt, getting ready to start slowly making his way downstairs for breakfast, when he heard someone shouting outside.

“There's a flare! Holy shit there's a flare from the other side of the wall!”

Levi ran outside, ignoring his throbbing ankle, and looked to where the soldier was pointing. Sure enough, a pink distress flare was arcing up over the wall, halfway between the castle and Karanes.

“Who do you think it is?”

“Do you think it's more titan shifters?”

“Did the titans learn how to use flares?”

“No, it’s a distress flare!”

Levi ignored all the whispers and conversation as he ran to the stable, attached a set of reins to his horse’s halter, jumped on bareback, and headed for the flare at full speed.

\----

Kat and Zach collapsed on top of Wall Rose. Two members of the Garrison had been patrolling just inside the wall when they heard the flare gun and saw the pink smoke. They didn't recognize the signal as specifically meaning “distress”, but they knew flares were not something set off by titans.

It would be an understatement to say the Garrison soldiers were shocked when they came to the top of the wall and saw two Scouts dangling on the other side, a mere ten feet above the grabbing hands of the titans below. The Garrison soldiers offered their full canteens and lunch rations to the Scouts who greedily ate and drank. Soon there were thundering hoofbeats all below them as more people came to investigate the mysterious flare. Kat and Zach removed their ODM gear so that they could cling to the Garrison soldiers as they slowly rappelled down the inside of the wall.

“Make sure you find my horse,” Zach said quietly as soon as his feet touched the ground, too tired to even speak at a normal volume. His voice was hoarse from dehydration and lack of sleep.

“Give that horse a goddamn medal and all the carrots he wants,” Kat said as her feet touched the ground, sounding just as pathetic as her comrade.

They both collapsed to sitting positions in the grass.

“Holy shit what happened to you two?”

“How long were you out there?”

“How did you get back?”

“I never knew the Scouts were so badass.”

Neither of them could focus on the questions getting thrown at them. They looked around, seeing the people talking, but not processing the words or forming responses.

“Kat!” 

Everyone turned to face the new voice.

“Is that Captain Levi?” A Garrison soldier asked no one in particular.

“Levi?” Kat asked weakly as she looked in the direction of his voice, grinning slightly when he came into view.

“Kat! Holy shit, Kat,” Levi yelled as he approached the crowd. He didn't wait for his horse to stop before sliding off sideways and making sure to land on his good foot. He ran forward and smashed into her, wrapping one arm around her waist while the other grabbed the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her greasy hair.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face against his, his bangs slightly tickling her forehead.

“I thought I'd lost you,” he whispered just loud enough for her to hear and kissed the side of her face.

“Someone told me I wasn't allowed to die,” she responded and hugged him tighter.

He scoffed and buried his face in her neck, planting another kiss there. “You smell awful.”

“Kat. Henderson,” a voice called from the back of the crowd. The Garrison soldiers parted to allow Commander Erwin to approach.

Zach saluted from his spot on the ground, not trusting his legs to hold him up. Kat didn't even attempt a salute, she just continued clinging to Levi.

“I'm glad to see you two,” he said with a grin as he dismounted his horse. “Let's get you home,” he said as he walked over to Zach, helping the younger soldier to his feet and onto his horse. Unlike Levi, Erwin had taken the time to saddle his horse before coming to investigate. He helped Zach into the saddle, put the younger man's feet into the stirrups, and took the reins to lead the horse on foot. Zach slumped forward and rested his head on the white horse's neck.

Levi helped Kat onto his horse before swinging up behind her, holding her steady between his arms as she leaned back into his chest. The ride back to the castle was silent. At one point, Erwin gave Levi a questioning look, switching his gaze from Levi to Kat and back to Levi, but Levi had only responded with a sideways glare at the Commander.

\----

Kat and Zach slept through the entire day and night, both waking up the next morning.

They were in adjacent beds, both wearing white hospital outfits with various bandages spread across their bodies. They were the only two in the candlelit room, though there were two more beds on the opposite wall. There was one small window letting in a small amount of light and the walls were bare stone.

“Are we in heaven?” Zach asked as he stared up at the ceiling.

Kat groaned as she stretched her arms and legs. “I hope not. I don't think you're supposed to be in this much pain in heaven.”

Zach sighed and looked over at her, a wide smile on his handsome face. “We fucking made it.”

She responded, “I know. Death has no dominion here, right?” with a grin.

The door opened and a nurse walked in, a smile on her face. “Good morning you two. I thought I heard voices in here.” She approached Zach's bed first and picked up his chart. “How are you feeling, Henderson?”

He shifted to more of a sitting position. “I'm starving and thirsty and I would appreciate some pain meds for my shoulder, but I'm alive.”

She grinned and made a note in his chart. “I'll make sure they bring something with your breakfast.” She stepped over to Kat's bed and picked up her chart. “And you, Lieutenant?”

“Same, but I don't think I need pain meds,” she responded, not bothering to try and sit up like her roommate. “When can we leave?”

The nurse put down the clipboard. “I can't say. I'm going to tell the doctor you're up and let the kitchen know that they need to bring you breakfast. I'll also send a messenger to Commander Erwin. I'm sure he has a lot of questions for you two.” They both nodded and thanked her as she left. Just before she shut the door, she turned around and said, “Oh, I almost forgot. You each have a visitor. They've been waiting all night for you wake up. Would you like me to send them in or do you want me to wait?”

Kat and Zach looked at each other, each of them with an eyebrow cocked. Who would have waited up all night for them?

“I guess let them know we're awake?” Kat said uncertainly.

The nurse nodded and closed the door.

Kat swung her legs over the edge of the bed and reached for the pitcher of water sitting on the table between them. She poured two cups and handed one to Zach. She took a long gulp and sighed in satisfaction. “I never thought room temperature water could be so delicious.”

Zach waited until he had finished his own cup before responding, “Almost as good as that whiskey you like to drink.” 

She took his cup and refilled it. “I'm hoping someone is nice enough to get me a bottle as a welcome home gift.”

Zach chuckled into his cup but didn't say anything. There was a knock on the door before the same nurse opened it. She stepped to the side, holding the door open so that Levi and Greta could enter.

Greta gasped and ran to Zach's bedside, leaning over to give him a hug. “Oh Zach I'm so glad you're okay!”

He blushed and hugged her back with his good arm. “H-Hi Greta.”

“I saw you listed as MIA and I know what that normally means and I was so sad but then I heard you had come back and I couldn't believe it and oh my God I'm sorry I'm hurting your shoulder aren't I?” She rambled.

“N-No, I'm fine. Thank you. I...I missed you too.”

Kat and Levi stared at the two of them, and then glanced at each other. Kat made a hand motion like she was going to vomit and Levi smirked. Another knock on the door meant breakfast had arrived. The trays had barely been set down before the two soldiers were inhaling the eggs, bread, fruit, and tea. It was their first real meal in almost a week. Now it was Levi's and Greta's turns to stare, mostly in disgust.

As soon as they finished breakfast, the doctor walked in followed immediately by Commander Erwin. The room was getting crowded, but no one wanted to ask anybody else to leave.

The doctor went through the same “how are you feeling?” routine as the nurse had done earlier before he checked their vitals and their bandages. “You both seem to be fine, as crazy as that is for what you've been through. Your kidney and liver function tests were both normal and your wounds are starting to heal nicely. We'll check on you again this afternoon, but you should be fine to go back to your own rooms tonight. We'll do a follow up in a week.” He turned to Zach. “Henderson, you're on desk duty for three weeks. You've dislocated that shoulder twice now, so we need to really make sure it's healed this time.” 

“Yes sir,” Zach said. Greta squeezed his hand and gave him an encouraging smile.

The doctor turned to Kat. “Sloan, you're cleared for physical activity as soon as tomorrow if you feel up to it.”

“Thank you,” she said. She was going to need a few more meals before she felt up to training again.

The doctor said goodbye and left. When he opened the door, Hange and Mike were on the other side getting ready to knock.

“My goodness, more visitors,” the doctor said as he stood to the side to let the squad leaders in. “Call if you need anything,” he said over his shoulder into the crowded room before leaving.

Mike closed the door. Levi was seated next to Kat's bed, just close enough for his knee to brush against the mattress. Greta sat next to Zach on the edge of his bed, her right hand intertwined with his left. Erwin pulled up a chair and sat at the foot of the beds, equidistant between them. Hange stood beside Erwin, nearly bursting with all the questions she had. Mike leaned against the wall near the door.

Erwin sighed and smiled. “I can't express how great it is to see you both again. I don't think I've ever been able to remove a name from the MIA list and put it back in the active duty list.”

“How did you make it back?” Hange asked the question so quickly they almost didn't understand it.

Zach let Kat tell the story. Speaking to superiors still made him nervous - Kat being the obvious exception.

When the story was done, Hange let out a low whistle. “Talk about the will to live.”

Kat stayed silent. She didn't want anyone to know that she had resolved to kill herself before she found Zach. Maybe one day she would tell Zach and properly thank him for saving her life.

"And talk about luck. I can't believe your tree wasn't swarmed by titans after three days. And your horse was still there, and he waited for you. And you didn't encounter a single titan on your way back. It's just amazing how many breaks you guys caught," Hange rambled.

Zach stayed silent. He didn’t want to think about all the things that should have gone wrong during their time outside the walls.

Kat cleared her throat. “So what happened after that horde ate the Female Titan?” She didn't know how to respond to the revelation of their outstanding luck, so she decided to change the subject.

Levi and Erwin told the story. The human transforming again and wiping out Levi's squad, Eren transforming and fighting her but losing and almost getting taken, Levi getting injured saving Mikasa but still managing to save Eren, and finally the summons to the interior to decide Eren's fate.

“So the person behind the Female Titan is still at large?” Kat asked.

Erwin's eyes flicked over to Zach and Greta before coming back to Kat. “That's a discussion for another time, Lieutenant.”

“Sir,” Kat responded. She had forgotten that the cadet and the new Scout were in the room. She was so used to it just being the officers.

Erwin cleared his throat. “Henderson, we'll follow doctor's orders. The 104th Cadet Corps is going on standby for now anyways, so you’ll have some time to recover.”

“Sir,” Zach responded.

“Kat, we did all of your paperwork for you in your absence, but I would still like a full written report about your time outside the walls. You can write it after we get back from the interior. After that, you'll have to pick your new squad.”

“Sir,” she said quietly, trying to keep her face blank so as to not convey her sadness. A new squad. 

Erwin stood, putting his chair back where he had found it. “I will fend off the media for you. I'll make an official statement of what happened, but other than that no one will be allowed to speak with you.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Kat and Zach said simultaneously. 

He nodded once more at them, then at Levi, and then at Greta, before leading Hange and Mike out of the room. Once the door was shut, Levi stood and walked around to the area between the two beds. He glared down at Zach and Greta as he said, “You two brats keep it down over here,” and pulled the curtain closed around Kat's bed.

“You realize this isn't soundproof, right?” Kat asked as he came and sat on the edge of her bed.

“I know, that's why I told them to keep it down,” he said as he leaned down and put a hand on either side of her waist to brace himself as he put his forehead against hers. “I'm glad you made it back,” he whispered.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling his scent as she reached her hands up to rest on his triceps. “I'm sorry I wasn’t there to save your squad,” she said.

“No, I'm sorry I pulled you away from yours. I was being selfish when I talked Erwin into assigning you to my squad.”

“It was selfish, but it may have saved my life. Zach said that horde wiped out the whole right flank. That probably would have included me if I had been there.”

He sighed and sat back up. “Let's not talk about it anymore. I'm sick of talking about everyone who died.”

She kept her hands on his arms, not wanting him to leave. She dragged the fingertips of one hand up and down his arm and bit her lip slightly. “The doctor said I was cleared for physical activity.” She slid her hand down to his and laced their fingers together. “What about you?” She remembered him mentioning his leg injury.

He stared down at her for a moment. She was giving him that look again. “I'm not cleared for strenuous activity yet, but I can figure something out.”

She smirked up at him. Zach and Greta giggled on the other side of the curtain. Levi's head snapped in their direction and he scowled.


	11. Homecoming Part 2

They had a steady stream of visitors for the rest of the day, but Levi made most of them go away. The friends Zach had made in the last six months were allowed in, but Levi knew that most of the people who came to see Kat were just being nosey and wanted to hear the story of what happened. Mike and Levi were there that night to retrieve Kat and Zach from the infirmary. Their superficial wounds had healed well enough that their bandages were now gone. They'd even gotten a chance to completely bathe. Greta had to return to the main base in Trost with the rest of the cadets. Mike was tasked with escorting Zach to the estate where the rest of the 104th was stationed on standby. Levi and Kat went to the dining hall where an officer's meeting was about to begin.

“So this is to hammer out the finer details of the trip to the interior in the morning?” Kat asked once the two of them were alone in the hallway. “What kind of finer details could there be?”

“You'll see,” was all Levi said.

When they reached the barren dining hall, Levi barred the door behind them as Kat looked around the only occupied table. Erwin, Jean, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and now Levi and Kat. This wasn't an officer's meeting.

“What's going on?” Kat asked.

Erwin answered, “Tomorrow, as we pass through Stohess on our way to the interior, we're going to capture the Female Titan.”

\----

After the meeting, Kat and Levi walked together back to his room. He unlocked the door for them and Kat took a seat on his bed as he sat at his desk. His room was almost identical to hers. As officers, they had been given slightly larger quarters with room for a larger bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a small en-suite bathroom.

“Are you sure you're up for taking my spot tomorrow?” He asked.

She shrugged. “I don't really have a choice. Eren is supposed to transform and you're injured, so I'll have to do my backup duties if need be.” She just hoped she could do it without completely destroying her body. The doctor cleared her for physical activity, but she was still recovering.

“No, I guess we don't have a choice. But I trust you to do the right thing when the time comes.”

She nodded, unsure of how to respond.

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“Can I stay with you tonight?” she asked timidly.

He looked at her blankly. “Yes, but why?”

“If our gamble is wrong tomorrow, we're going to jail for a long time. We'll probably even be executed for treason.” She looked at him, he was still staring blankly at her. “And if this is my last night of freedom, I want to spend it with you.”

“Just like before, huh?” He asked. “If it's our last night alive, we should at least spend it together?”

“Sort of, except it's different now, right? You feel it too, don't you? We're not the same as we were before.”

He nodded. “You're right, it's not the same.” He crossed his legs. “I don't know how to describe it. Maybe I always felt this way, I don’t know. I just know that seeing you with Henderson drove me crazy. I guess that was the first time I’d ever felt threatened by someone possibly taking you away from me.”

“You know Zach and I were never together, right?” She asked.

He sighed. “Yes. I realized that after Trost.”

She sighed and stood from the bed. She walked over and stood over his lap, straddling him. He put a hand on her hip and looked up at her. “You want to hear a sappy story?” She asked.

“Sure.”

She reached down to uncross his legs and sat in his lap, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck. “While Zach and I were waiting for the full moon out in the forest, we kept ourselves distracted by talking about the future. He talked about asking Greta to be his girlfriend, eventually becoming a squad leader in the Scouts, getting married and having kids, and retiring and opening up a woodworking shop once he’s too old for expeditions.”

“This is a sappy story,” he interrupted, his hands softly massaging her hips.

“I haven't gotten to the worst part yet,” she said, letting out a contented sigh at the feeling of his hands on her.

He scoffed but didn't speak, sliding his hands up her sides to rest on her rib cage, his thumbs slightly cupping her breasts.

“I couldn't think of anything I wanted to achieve or do once we got home. And then I realized that I don't care what I do for the rest of my life, as long as you and I are doing it together.”

“Tch. You're right, that was worse,” he said with a smirk.

“Now it's your turn to tell me that you never realized how deeply you felt about me until you thought I was dead, and now all that matters is having me by your side,” she said with a matching smirk. She put her hands on the back of his head, spreading her fingers out across the soft fuzz of his undercut while her thumbs pressed just behind his ears, a spot she knew was sensitive.

“Tch. I would never admit that.” His eyes were getting hazy with lust.

She leaned forward and teasingly whispered into his lips, “You just did.”

When she didn't move any closer, Levi growled a little and leaned forward to close the distance. Kat sighed as their lips connected and scooted her hips a little closer to his. He responded in kind, slouching in his chair a little so that she could directly straddle his crotch. It was a feverish kiss, full of pent up frustrations and desires from the last seven months. Her hands quickly slid under the hem of his undershirt, tugging it up over his head. They broke apart for a moment for her to completely remove the shirt and she took the opportunity to also remove her own shirt and bra. His hands went back to her hips as he kissed and nibbled his way down her collarbone. He continued the same teasing once he reached her breasts, kissing everywhere but the hardened nipple. She looked down at him, arching her back and panting in anticipation. 

He finally took it in his mouth, rolling his tongue in a lazy circle as one hand roughly grabbed her ass. Kat groaned and felt her own wetness practically leaking out of her. She tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled at the roots as her breathing got a little ragged. It was too much. It all felt so amazing. She'd gone too long without him and she couldn't wait anymore. Right now, she needed him.

She pulled her chest away from him and reached down to deftly unbutton his pants. She got off his lap and started unbuttoning and pulling off her own pants and underwear as he removed his. Once they were both completely nude, Levi reached out a hand and gently placed it on the back of her thigh, pulling her closer until she was sitting in his lap again. His stiff erection sandwiched between her slick labia and they both sighed at the sensation. They kissed again and she rocked her hips, sliding his shaft and head up and down along her clit. He shuddered and dug his nails into her hips a little. It was so close to being inside of her, but it wasn't quite the same. She rocked her hips a few more times before she completely lost her patience. With one hand she reached down and guided him into her, sitting down quickly to shove his full length inside. They both groaned, their foreheads touching as they both breathed deeply. It had been too long. She took a moment to readjust to his familiar shape, length, and girth before she started rocking her hips again. 

Levi buried his face in her chest, now sucking on her other nipple as she roughly ran her fingers through his hair. They had only ever faced each other during sex one time before, back in the beginning. They had decided that it was too intimate, too full of emotion, to see each other and from then on had stuck to positions that had her facing away. Now, however, with their newfound feelings for each other, this was exactly they wanted. They wanted to kiss and caress and whisper sweet nothings. They wanted to connect on more than just a physical level. 

Normally their sex was hard and fast, but now Kat took her time. She rolled her hips slowly, sensually, moving along the entire length of his cock before slamming back down to the base. Every time their hips reconnected, they both let out a hard pant. Levi reached up and tangled both of his hands in Kat’s hair, bringing her mouth down to his for a deep kiss. She put her hands on his chest, digging her fingernails into his muscles as she started moving a little faster. He broke away, but kept holding her face close to his, locking eyes with her as they breathed each other in. She closed her eyes and set her forehead against his, feeling her orgasm building deep within her. 

She gradually slowed down until she came to a complete stop.

“What’s wrong?” Levi asked.

“My hip is cramping,” she answered with an embarrassed smirk. Just when things were getting good.

“Your hip still bothers you?” He asked.

She just nodded. She’d had trouble with her left hip for as long as she could remember. He scoffed and moved his hands down to her hips. He took a firm grip and lifted her slightly before slamming her back down. Kat gasped and buried her face in the side of his head. He did it again, this time also adding in an upward thrust to make himself go even deeper.

“Fuck that feels good,” she moaned deeply in his ear as he continued, slowly increasing his pace with every thrust.

While this position felt amazing, she knew it wouldn’t be enough to make her orgasm. For the first time, though, she was okay with that. Before, if she hadn’t been able to come, she’d been irate. Why sleep with someone in the first place if you weren’t going to get off? Now, though, she understood why - to feel close to the person, to connect with them on a more intimate level, to show them that your pleasure wasn’t the only thing that mattered.

She felt his thrusting getting a little uneven and knew he was close. She whispered, “Come inside me, Levi,” into his ear and gently sucked on his earlobe.

He gave two more deep thrusts, sputtered a few expletives, and buried his face in her chest as he came. Three more slow, deep pumps and he was done. Collapsed against the chair, they both breathed heavily and leaned on each other.

After he caught his breath, Levi asked, “Are you still getting that injection that keeps you from getting pregnant?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. I wouldn’t have told you to come inside me otherwise.”

“That’s what I thought. Good.”

Kat sat there for a few more seconds, not wanting to get up, but the cramp in her hip was getting worse the longer she stayed in the position. She stood and hobbled into the bathroom. Levi soon followed. “When did we get so old?” Kat asked as she ran a hand towel under some cold water and started cleaning herself.

“What?” Levi responded as he did the same.

“I’ve got a bad hip, you’ve got a bad back and now probably a bad ankle. We’re like a couple of retirees.”

He smirked. “Good thing we’ve got each other, then.”

She grinned and leaned over, giving him a kiss. “Yeah, good thing.”

They crawled into his bed and got under the covers. Levi laid on his back so Kat could put her head on his chest. She draped a leg over his hips and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Within five minutes, they were both sound asleep. And neither of them woke up until the sun was rising through the window the next morning.


	12. Stohess District

The next day, Kat rode with Erwin and Levi in one carriage while Jean rode in the other disguised as Eren. Kat and Erwin were in their full uniforms, but with Levi still on medical leave he was in his civilian clothing. A black suit, a white dress shirt, and his cravat. They were silent as they rode, not daring to speak with so many military police around. Erwin was reading the newspaper. Kat wanted to hold Levi's hand for stability and reassurance and comfort, but they both knew it would be inappropriate with the commander present. Not that it was a secret that they were now together, but they were still soldiers and Erwin was still their superior. Instead, they sat close enough for their thighs to press against each other as they stared out opposite windows.

Erwin finally broke the silence. “Kat, have you read the news?”

“Not lately, sir” she said simply.

“They're calling you and Henderson ‘Humanity's Luckiest Soldiers'.”

Levi scoffed.

She cocked an eyebrow as she looked at Erwin. “These journalists are not very creative with nicknames.”

Erwin smirked. 

An explosion caused their carriages to stop. The three officers exchanged quick glances before climbing out and standing together with the MPs on the street. A cloud of smoke rose slowly into the air from the direction of the explosion.

Jean bursted from his carriage and pulled his wig off. “I'm not staying here!” He yelled as he struggled against the MP trying to force him back into the carriage. “Stop calling me Yaeger! I'm not him, dammit! I'm going over there to fight!”

“Kat. Jean,” Erwin said without looking back at them. “Get your gear from fourth squad and go meet with everybody else.”

“Sir!” They both responded and ran off, only taking five minutes to get geared up before taking to the sky.

More explosions and dust clouds rose into the air as they flew forward, going as fast as they could manage in the crowded city. By the time they reached the tunnel where Armin, Eren, and Mikasa were supposed to lure the Female Titan, it had been destroyed. Kat and Jean went down to Armin and saw Eren pinned under some rubble. Mikasa was nowhere to be seen.

“What happened?” Jean asked as they landed. “Why isn't he a titan right now?”

“He couldn't transform!” Armin responded, pulling on a piece of broken ceiling covering Eren's leg.

“What do you mean he couldn't transform?” Jean yelled and took a step toward the trapped soldier. 

“It was Annie, just like we thought, and we think he's too worried about hurting her to transform,” Armin answered.

Kat looked back behind them just in time to see more rubble flying through the air. She grabbed Armin and Jean by their collars and pushed them away to avoid the debris. When the dust settled, they saw Eren was now even more trapped than before with a piece of wood impaled through his shoulder.

Kat gritted her teeth and turned to the two recruits. “Get out of here, you two need to continue with the mission.”

They looked like they wanted to argue, but decided instead to follow orders and leave. Time was of the essence and they were losing their window to lure Annie into Hange's trap. Once they were gone, Kat stepped down to Eren and crouched in front of him. He looked up at her with heavy eyelids, blood running down his face, barely conscious.

“What do you think you're doing?” She asked. “You think you're allowed to just give up and die here?”

His eyes got a little wider, his attention focused on her.

“You think we've all been through hell and back just for you to decide it's too hard now?” She continued, the usual icy glare on her face.

He scowled at her but didn't speak. The sounds of cannon fire came from somewhere behind them - they had fired the snares at Annie.

“You think I give a shit that the Female Titan is somebody you know? I've killed people I know before, because sometimes that's what it takes. Hundreds of Scouts have died fighting for this moment, right here. And you're going to lie there and tell me all of their deaths were in vain because you're worried about losing a little of your humanity?!” She was yelling now. She grabbed the front of Eren’s shirt and slammed her forehead against his. “Sometimes you have to abandon your own humanity to save the rest of it!”

There was another explosion behind them. Kat looked back and saw Annie's Titan head over the tops of the buildings. She pulled on Eren, turning him so that he could see it as well. “Look at that! She's escaping! And I'm sure she's got a lot more people to kill before she's done!” As she spoke, his scowl deepened until his face was contorted in rage.

“I'm supposed to give up my humanity?!” He screamed in her face.

“Yes!” She screamed back, not flinching away from his anger. “If that’s what it takes to save everybody! Because if you can't do it, I'm going to save everyone the trouble and kill you myself, right here!”

Eren screamed, the guttural sounds of an enraged beast. Kat dropped him and moved away just in time to avoid the worst of the explosion.

\----

The Survey Corps stood on a rooftop watching the Titan fight from a safe distance.

Kat joined them, blades at the ready. “So the spike nets didn't work?” Kat asked Hange.

The brunette shook her head. “She was able to kick free. We didn't have enough traps.”

Kat sighed. “Well, hopefully Eren can beat her this time.”

They all continued watching, following along on rooftops as the fight spread to different parts of the city. Kat watched as buildings were destroyed and civilian blood coated the streets. All this destruction, all this titan power unleashed in the middle of an unsuspecting city. Had she done the right thing, taunting Eren to make him transform? Would all of this be justifiable in the end? If not, she was going to have to find a way to live with the decision she had made. Just like she always did. 

Kat shut her eyes when Annie kicked Eren into a building with her hardened shin. She couldn't watch this massacre, this destruction of Eren at the hands of something they didn't understand and couldn't control. Another roar made Kat open her eyes. Eren was up and parts of his skin were now streaked with fiery red lines like he was about to catch on fire. He charged Annie like a wild animal, tackling her through a bridge.

Mikasa landed between Kat and Hange. “Eren!” The younger woman yelled, getting ready to launch off again.

Hange put out a hand in front of her. “Stop. I don't think Eren would recognize you right now.” She was right, Eren was out of control now. 

With a sigh, Kat said, “Guess I'll go,” and launched off the roof toward the battle. 

¼ of the way there: Eren was missing limbs and Annie was launching herself at Wall Sina. She was going to make a break for it.

Halfway there: Eren was dangling on Annie's legs, trying to drag her off the wall.

¾ of the way there: Annie had kicked herself free of Eren's hold, losing a leg in the process.

And then Kat was there, swinging in an arc over Annie, her blades pointed straight down. She swung down and sliced through all the fingers on Annie's right hand. She turned back and quickly swung in the opposite direction, cutting through the fingers on her left hand. From her spot still hanging on the wall, Kat called out, “Eren, finish her off!” as Annie plummeted to the ground.

Kat watched as he easily overpowered Annie now that she was missing so many body parts. She watched as he pinned her down and used his teeth to tear off the entire back part of her neck, revealing the human body underneath. She sighed in frustration when blue light erupted from Annie and her titan’s flesh started crawling up Eren's arms. It was time to end this, it had already come too far. She quickly moved to a spot where she could see Eren's back, launched an anchor into his shoulder, and shot herself forward. With a quick motion, she cut open his nape. “I didn’t mean ‘eat her’, you idiot,” she said as she pulled him out.


	13. Wall Rose

The next morning, in their makeshift quarters in Stohess, Erwin called Kat into his office. She sat across from him and admired the hand carved antique mahogany desk he sat behind. She wondered how much it had cost the people in taxes to buy such a piece of furniture. It seemed a bit too opulent to be anything other than an MP purchase.

“Katherine,” Erwin said to get her attention.

“Sir?” She asked with just a hint of worry in her voice. She couldn't remember the last time he had called her by her full name.

“Your performance as a squad leader and a soldier have been exemplary over the last two weeks.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Of course you've always been an asset to the Scouts, but without official proof of your capabilities I was never able to do much as far as promotions and recognitions.”

“Official proof?” She asked.

He nodded. “I have noticed that, when statistics are filed after expeditions, you somehow always end up with the fewest number of titan kills on your squad.”

She didn't say anything.

“And yet I've seen you out in the field, and I know you're killing more than one or two every expedition. So, this is my question:”

She gulped, but kept her face blank.

“Why have you been falsifying official military records all these years?”

She took a deep breath. And here she was thinking that Levi had been the only one to notice or care that she didn't take full credit for everything. “Sir, when we're out in the field, I don't necessarily see the importance of tracking and recording my kills. At some point it goes past keeping official documents and becomes nothing more than bragging rights. I realize it's supposed to serve as a marker for a strong soldier, which I agree with, but being strong doesn't automatically make you a good soldier or a good leader.”

He sat back in his chair, his fingers laced in front of his mouth, silently waiting for her to continue.

“So, when we're outside the walls, I keep track of the total kills for my squad. When we come home, my men each give me their report on how many kills and assists they remember getting, and then whatever is left over becomes my kill number. If we killed twelve and my squad members say they killed ten between the four of them, then I record that I killed two.”

“Even though you likely killed at least half?” He asked.

“Even though I likely struck the killing blow on all twelve, yes sir.”

Erwin sighed again and closed his eyes. Over the years, I’ve had to fight for every single one of your promotions to be approved, especially the one to make you an officer. No one in central command could understand why I thought a soldier with such mediocre performance in the field deserved to lead anyone. Every time I was able to convince them to trust me and give you a chance to prove yourself. Every time I hoped that you would start giving me accurate statistics. Every time you continued handing in these false reports.”

She scowled. Did she really deserve to be scolded over something as trivial as numbers?

He must have noticed her scowl, because the look on his face softened. “From now on, you are not allowed to continue your current method of reporting kills. Your new squad members will send their reports directly to me and you will truthfully make your own report and give it to me for verification.”

She continued scowling, but didn’t say anything.

“I will not allow my Captains to falsify military records.”

The scowl wiped off her face. “S-Sir?”

He smirked and reached into his desk, removing a small wooden box and setting it on the desk between them. Kat slowly reached out and pulled it toward her, flipping the lid open as she did so. Inside there were patches of various sizes - the Wings of Freedom outlined in gold thread. The same patch that was sewn onto Levi's uniform. The insignia of a Captain of the Survey Corps.

Erwin spoke as Kat stared down at the box in her hands. “I'll officially announce it in the morning. Normally we would schedule a formal ceremony, but I hope you'll understand that our priorities are different these days.”

She nodded, finally looking up at him. “Yes sir. I would prefer having no ceremony anyways, even if our situation was better.”

“Yes I remember how you insisted against your last promotion ceremony.” His grin was warm and prideful, like a father.

All she could think to say was, “Thank you, Commander Erwin.”

There was a panicked knock on the door. Kat stood to leave as Erwin told his visitor to enter.

“Commander!” The soldier shouted as he burst through the door, giving a salute.

“Yes, spit it out,” Erwin ordered as he stood from his desk.

“Sir, there are titans inside Wall Rose!”

Erwin looked at Kat to give orders, but she was already running off toward the armory. She stuffed the box of patches in her pocket - she would have to find time to stitch them on later.

\----

That afternoon in Ehrmich, while they came up with their battle plan, Kat started feeling overwhelmed with the information she had heard over the course of the last six hours. During the fight in Stohess, a chunk of the wall got torn off and revealed a colossal titan underneath, laying dormant within the wall itself. The crystal that Annie encased herself in was identical to the material the walls are made of. That means titans are protecting humans from other titans. And if they can harden themselves like that, then Eren can probably do the same, which means they can finally seal Wall Maria. There were believed to be more titan shifters in the 104th Cadet Corps, and that's why they were being kept isolated out in the middle of nowhere, officially on “standby”. That meant Zach was stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a useless arm with more titan shifters. Titan shifters like Annie, who didn’t want to help humanity like Eren did. Based on shoddy family records, the shifters were believed to be the only other cadets listed as having the same hometown as Annie: Reiner and Bertholdt. Names that Kat knew as recent Scout recruits, but not two cadets that she had necessarily paid much attention to in all her time watching the class train.

Kat stood silently next to Levi in the back of the room, leaning against the pile of boards stacked behind them and sewing her new patches onto her cloak and brown jacket. She continued listening, but tried to keep her hands busy. This was why she usually preferred to stay out of strategy meetings - this stuff made her head spin. She could read a situation well and respond accordingly, but long term planning and strategizing was out of her realm. Every once in a while as they stood there, Levi’s shoulder would brush against hers. Just to let her know he was still there.

More news: more hidden secrets from the 104th Cadet Corps. Pastor Nick had just given the news that the goal of his people was to protect a cadet that had just joined the Scouts that year - Christa Lens. Something about her was the key to more information about the walls.

Kat watched as Eren, Mikasa, and Armin got geared up and ready to go. She set down her sewing kit and started to do the same.

Levi stopped them before they could leave the room. “I can’t go with you this time, which means Kat's in charge, so this is what you’re going to need to do: Armin, you need to work with Hange to come up with a plan. Mikasa, you need to protect Eren no matter what. Eren, you need to learn to control yourself. You keep going into rages and forgetting the mission.” They all nodded and left. Kat went to follow them, but was stopped by Levi’s hand grabbing her wrist. She turned back to look at him. “And you can’t die. You got that?”

“Hmph. Stop telling me that. I haven’t died yet, have I?” She asked as she pulled her arm out from his grasp.

He glared at her, hurt that she yanked away like she had. She caught the look and sighed, taking a step forward to run her fingers through his hair. “I’ll be back soon. I promise.” She punctuated the sentence with a lingering kiss on his cheek.

He put an arm around her waist, pulling her hips into his. She let out a contented sigh and nuzzled her face into his. Right then, standing there leaning into him, inhaling his scent and melting into his touch, she realized she loved him. For all the frustration and headaches he gave her, she would never want anybody else. She had never wanted anybody else. It had always been Levi and it would only ever be Levi.

“I love you,” she whispered in his ear. “I wanted to let you know in case something happens.” After a second, she realized he wasn’t returning the sentiment and leaned back to look at his face. He was glaring over her shoulder at somebody behind them. She followed his gaze and saw Sasha standing behind them, mouth agape and full of food. She’d only taken a few bites of the baked potato Hange had given her as payment for the report she had delivered. The look of shock on her face at the two captains locked in such an intimate moment was grating on Kat's nerves. Kat matched Levi’s glare and they both stared at the young soldier, daring her to say something.

Sasha squeaked, swallowed her food, and ran off. 

Once she was out of sight, Levi finally turned to face Kat. “I love you too. And nothing is going to happen.”

\---- 

Castle Utgard loomed in the distance, the squad's intended campground for the night on their way to plug the hole in Wall Rose. Two massive stone towers stood with a high walkway spanning between the apexes. Smaller stone buildings littered the rest of the property. It would be a perfect camp for the night.

In the moonlight, they watched as the taller tower crumbled and fell.

“What was that?”

“Titans?”

A chorus of shouts rang among the Scouts as they tried to decipher what was happening before them. Kat goaded her new horse to run faster and Mikasa quickly followed. It wasn’t long before they were upon the castle, now almost completely reduced to rubble. Several large titans were simultaneously fighting one small titan with wild brown hair and sharp teeth. Kat jumped from her horse and swung around to watch the commotion. Why were titans attacking another titan? Unless…

Kat realized she was looking at another titan shifter and flew over to kill some of the titans tearing it… her?... apart. The veteran Scouts, along with Mikasa, made quick work of the rest of the titans attacking the castle. 

Kat saw Eren flying through the air in her peripheral vision. She watched as he killed a titan, screamed, “Yes! My first kill!”, stumbled, and slid into the rubble.

She walked over to check on him. “You okay there, Yaeger?” She asked and offered a hand to help him up. 

As she helped him stand, everyone ran over to them. Connie, Christa, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Zach. She was happy to step back and let all the friends greet one another. She needed to go find the veteran Scouts who should have been with the recruits. She needed to figure out what happened and why the recruits had been out here in the first place.

She turned to go do just that, but Zach stopped her. “Don't bother looking for anyone, they're all dead,” he said solemnly.

Hey eyes went wide. “What the hell happened?”

Hange and the rest of the Scouts soon joined and the new recruits told them the whole story, starting all the way back at the first titan spotting while they were still inside the estate.


	14. Wall Rose Part 2

Kat watched from the ground as the last of the recruits were pulled up to the top of Wall Rose. Somehow, Dudley had been the only horse to survive the attack at Utgard. Apparently, Zach had disobeyed orders and left him out to graze instead of putting him in the stables. Kat followed his example now and decided to leave Dudley untied while the rest of the horses stood tied to the supply carts. She gave one more look around to make sure all the recruits were up the wall before ascending it herself. Zach met her at the top and used his one good hand to pull her the rest of the way up.

“Captain, huh?” He asked as he pointed at the new patch on her cloak.

She nodded. “Just got promoted yesterday.”

“Congratulations. I can't think of anyone who deserves it more,” he said with a grin.

She sighed and patted his arm. “Thanks, Zach.”

“So I guess that means you're actually allowed to be with Captain Levi now? Since he's no longer your superior?” As he spoke, he turned toward the rest of the Scouts and started walking along the wall.

Kat shrugged as she followed. “We wouldn’t have let that stop us.”

Zach grinned. They walked a few steps before he spoke again, “Hey, I thought of a name for our new squad.”

“Other than Squad Kat?” She asked.

He nodded.

“Okay, what is it?”

“So they're calling us Humanity's Luckiest, right?”

She nodded.

“You should pick five other people, and then we can be the Lucky Seven.” The smile was wide on his face.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “That's just asking for all of us to die.”

“Oi! Come on, it sounds badass! Like all the old stories!”

She shook her head good naturedly and kept walking, only half listening to his rambling stories about gangs of ragtag underdogs rising up to overcome the evil that was terrorizing the citizenry. She was going to say something, but never got a chance as there was an explosion behind them on the wall. Suddenly, the Colossal Titan was there, half attached to the wall itself, and the Armored Titan was sliding down the outside edge, Eren in his fist.

Kat watched in horror. She'd never seen either of the titans up close before. She had been out on expeditions both times they had appeared in the past; both times they had disappeared before she arrived to fight. Seeing them up close, she no longer had a question in her mind about how the cities had fallen so quickly to these monsters. She grabbed onto Zach's sleeve and pulled. “Let's go, you're with me!”

They ran over to Armin and Hange who were already deciding their battle strategy.

“Zach and I are going for help,” Kat said quickly as they approached. “We're no use against these things.”

Hange nodded. “Yes we'll definitely need to whole regiment for this. We'll keep them here for as long as we can.”

Kat nodded in return before turning and running further down the wall, trying to find a safe spot so that she could lower Zach down the inside wall. Ten minutes later, they were on their way back to Ehrmich.

\----

“Commander Erwin, sir!” Kat yelled as she burst into the commander's office, not bothering to knock first or salute once she was in his office. Zach followed just a step behind her.

Erwin quickly stood and looked at his two exhausted soldiers. “What is it?”

The only other person in the room was Levi. He stayed seated, watching quietly.

“The Colossal and the Armored showed up again, this time just as we were getting to Wall Rose to try and find the hole,” Kat said between gasps for air.

“What? Where are the rest of the Scouts?” Erwin asked.

“They stayed behind to delay their escape and try to kill them. We came to get reinforcements,” Zach explained, gasping for air like his comrade.

“Dieter!” Erwin called. A moment later, a man was standing in the doorway. “Get these two some water, and then ready the regiment and gather the lifts. Recruit as many Garrison and Military Police volunteers as you can. We leave in two hours to fight the Colossal and Armored titans,” Erwin ordered.

“Sir!” Dieter responded and ran off down the hall.

“The lifts?” Kat asked. “Why do we need to lifts?”

Erwin looked at her, a grave expression on his face. “They're trying to escape and take Eren with them. We're not going to let them get away.”

She nodded. Dieter returned with two large mugs of water. 

As they drank, Erwin stood from behind his desk and started gathering his things. “Kat, I need you to guide us back to the point on the wall where you were fighting.”

“I know sir, that's why I came,” Kat said, “So that I could lead you there.”

“I can show them the way back,” Zach said.

“No,” she answered before Erwin had a chance to, “You're staying here. You'll never survive the fight with that arm of yours still in a sling.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but she didn't let him. She turned back to Erwin, who was now walking toward them, and asked, “Where would you like me to help with the preparations?”

He shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder. “I need you to eat a full meal and rest as much as you can before we leave. You've been on the move for more than 24 hours and something tells me we have a hard fight ahead of us.”

Now it was her turn to try and protest but be interrupted by a superior.

“Levi,” Erwin said over his shoulder as he left the room, “Make sure she does as I told her.”

“Tch. I'll do my best,” Levi answered and stood from his chair. He grabbed Kat and Zach by their elbows and dragged them both out of the room. “Let’s go, you two. They should have some leftovers from lunch in the dining hall.”

\----

Kat had forced herself to eat too much, doing her normal routine of building up her food reserves in case she got too busy to eat outside the walls. Zach had insisted that Kat take Dudley with her if she was going to go back and fight without him. She had asked him why he wanted to risk his horse like that - wasn’t he worried Dudley was going to die? Zach had answered that he knew Dudley was not going to die, and that’s exactly why he wanted her to take him. It was the only way he could guarantee that she at least had a horse for the whole fight. 

Levi took Kat to his quarters after they were done eating and forced her to take a hot bath. He undressed and got into the bath with her, sitting behind her so that he could wash her hair and her back.

When she was finally clean, she leaned back into his chest to soothe her sore muscles. “Will you do me a favor?” She asked as she reached up to run her wet fingers through his hair.

“Yes,” Levi answered and leaned into her touch.

“Look after Zach while I’m gone, make sure he doesn’t do something stupid.”

“Like what?”

“Like get the idea in his head that he can fight and come out to join us.”

“Tch. He’s as stubborn as you are. How am I supposed to stop him if he really wants to go?”

“Hmph. He’s crippled. Beat him up or something.”

“Tch. I’m crippled too, you know.”

“Hmph. Then make him run errands with you or something. Get us some more tea, we're running low."

“Tch. When did I become your errand boy?”

She rolled around in the tub to face him and lightly headbutted him. “Just do it, please. For me.”

He scoffed again and tilted his face to kiss her. “Fine. Come on, it’s time to get out. We’re gonna get all pruney.” 

She reached down to pull the stopper out of the drain as he got out and grabbed two towels for them. He only partially dried off before walking out of the bathroom. She heard the bed springs squeak lightly as he laid down. She dried herself off and combed her damp hair before leaving the bathroom herself and laying down next to him. She was still naked, but she wasn’t trying to seduce him. She just wanted some skin-to-skin contact before she left again for an unknown amount of time. He must have realized her intentions because he wrapped his arms around her waist and kept them there, not letting his hands wander anywhere inappropriate. She had her back to him and he pulled her in close, pressing his hips and bare chest flush against her as he buried his nose in her damp hair. They laid in silence for a few minutes, perfectly content just being near each other.

Kat finally broke the quiet by asking, “What are we?”

“What do you mean?” He responded.

“If someone were to ask you what I am to you, what would you say?”

He thought for a moment before saying, “I don’t know.”

She sighed. “I don’t know either.” She rolled over in his arms so that she was facing him. “It seems kind of juvenile to say ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’.”

He nodded. “We're definitely too old for that.”

“So…?” She trailed off, hoping he would offer a suggestion.

He sighed. “Does it really matter?”

“No, I just like hearing your voice so I’m trying to think of something to talk about.”

He smirked and pulled her in tighter. “Fine. Lovers?”

She shook her head. “Too cheesy.”

“Partners?” He suggested.

“That implies something like marriage.”

“Tch. You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Hmph. We’re not married.”

“Obviously.”

“Do you want to get married?” The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Her face flushed crimson and her heart raced when she realized what she had said. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“Don’t be sorry. Unless that’s your way of proposing to me.”

She looked up at him. “If it were, would you say yes?”

He looked down at her and said, “Yes,” without hesitation.

“Really?” She asked.

“Tch, yes really. Why would I joke about something like that?”

She shrugged and put her head on his chest. “I don’t know. Just never saw either of us as the marrying type.”

“It’s not like I plan on ever being with anybody but you. We're sexually compatible, you understand how dangerous my job is, you're strong, you're responsible with money, you know how to clean, neither of us wants kids, and you're one of the only people who don't annoy the shit out of me.”

Kat couldn't help but roll her eyes and sarcastically say, “You're so romantic.” 

He ignored her remark. “We wouldn’t have to do anything big. We wouldn’t have to do anything at all if you don’t want. We can just go to the courthouse and sign the papers.”

It took her a moment to process what he was saying. She smirked as she looked back up at him. “Was that your way of proposing to me?”

“Tch. If it was, would you say yes?”

“Yes,” she answered without hesitation.

“Then that settles it. If anyone asks what you are to me, you’re my fiance.” He leaned down and kissed her, a wide grin on his face. 

Kat was certain that was the first time she’d ever seen him do anything more than smirk. She matched his grin and kissed him back. When they broke apart, she rolled back over and pressed herself against him again.

“I’ll take Zach with me tomorrow to pick up some tea and to buy our rings,” Levi said.

“Just a silver band for me, please. I don’t want anything that can snag or scratch while I’m fighting.” She yawned.

“Okay, when do you want to do it?” He asked.

She thought for a moment. “We should be back in a day or two, assuming we camp one night before heading home. I should probably buy a new dress, that'll take about a day. So, three or four days from now.”

“No ceremony?” He asked.

“No, just the courthouse,” she answered.

“Do you want to invite anyone to go with us?”

“Do you?”

It was his turn to think for a moment. He eventually answered, “Erwin and Hange. You?”

“Just Zach.”

“So that’s it, then? When you get back, you'll get your dress, and then the five of us will go to the courthouse?”

She nodded. “Yup, that’s it.” She paused for a moment before adding, “Is wedding planning supposed to be this easy?”

“Tch. Doubt it.”

“I’ll let Erwin and Hange know tonight when we stop for camp. Will you let Zach know when you see him tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

“Thank you. I love you.”

“You’re welcome. I love you, too. Get some sleep.”


	15. New Family

Almost twelve hours later, in the middle of the night, Levi was disturbed in his quarters by pounding footsteps down the hall followed by hammering on his door. He had been awake, as usual, so he got up to answer the door. “What is it?” He asked coldly. This couldn't possibly be good news.

“Captain Levi!” The Garrison soldier saluted quickly. “They’re back sir! The regiment that went to fight the Colossal and Armored Titans!”

Levi didn’t even bother grabbing his suit jacket as he ran out the door. This definitely wasn't good. Being back so early could only mean two things: they either lost the fight and retreated early, or they had so many gravely wounded from the fight that they needed to get home as soon as possible, skipping camp in order to ride through the night. Levi caught Zach in the hallway. The building was getting crowded as soldiers, awoken from their slumber, came out to meet the late arrivals. 

“This is bad, isn't it?” Zach asked once Levi was within earshot.

“Probably. Let's go.”

“I hope she's okay,” Zach said quietly as he followed behind the shorter soldier.

“Me too, Henderson,” Levi responded. “We're getting married in a few days, by the way. You're invited.”

There was a pause before Zach said, “I'm sorry, what?”

Levi ignored his question as they pushed outside into the crowded street. The group of soldiers riding in on horseback was half of what it was when the regiment had left that afternoon. Levi scanned the crowd, panicking but trying to keep his face neutral. Where was she? She had to be here.

“Commander Erwin!” Zach shouted and ran past Levi. “Let me help you sir,” he said as he helped the leader down from his white horse. Erwin's right arm was missing and he was pale from blood loss. Zach draped the commander's remaining arm over his shoulders and easily took the injured man's weight. Zach was one of the few people in the Scouts as big as Erwin, so he was best suited for the job of helping him inside.

Levi continued searching, looking into carts carrying wounded soldiers and not finding Kat in any of them. For now he avoided looking in the carts carrying the dead. He finally found her, all the way in the back, helping someone pull Hange out of a cart. Hange was burned badly and Kat was caked in dried blood. Dudley stood nearby, his gold plated breast collar engraved with 'DUDLEY' shimmering in the torchlight. It had been a gift from Kat since the horse hadn't gotten a medal like she wanted for rescuing them when they were stranded outside the walls.

Levi ran to her, putting his hands on her shoulders and spinning her around to face him. “You're hurt,” he said quickly.

“What?” She asked as she looked down at herself, covered in a thick layer of blood. “Oh no, I'm fine. This isn't my blood, it's Bertholdt's.”

“What the hell happened out there?”

“Help me get everyone in the infirmary and the horses put away. I'll tell you as we work. Erwin and Hange are out of commission and no one's seen Mike so you and I are in charge right now.” As she spoke, she motioned for some Garrison soldiers to come over. She gave them some orders and they ran off. Once she was satisfied with how their immediate vicinity was moving, she finally turned to Levi and hugged him. “You're not gonna believe what happened,” she breathed into his ear. “We might need to postpone getting married a few extra days.”

\----

The next day, Kat was working in Erwin's office when there was a knock on the door. Erwin was still in critical condition, Hange was stable but still undergoing treatment, Mike was still MIA, and Levi was busy getting Eren and Historia's hiding spot set up, so today she was acting-Commander for the Scout regiment. And she was absolutely terrified. Luckily so far it had just been paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.

“Come in,” she called without looking up from the report in front of her.

Zach entered and saluted. She waved to him so he would drop his salute and motioned for him to sit.

“No thanks, I just had a quick favor to ask,” he said as he stayed by the door.

“Sure what's up?” She asked as she leaned back in her chair and stretched.

“Can I take a week of bereavement leave? I just got word that my old man passed away yesterday. My brothers want me to help with the funeral preparations.”

“Of course Zach, my condolences on your loss.”

Zach shrugged. “He was a son of a bitch to me growing up, so I can't say I'm necessarily sad that he's gone.”

Kat sighed. “Believe me, I know how you feel. Let me know if there's anything I can help with. Otherwise, we'll see you in a week.”

He nodded, spun on his heel, and left.

\----

Levi brought Kat dinner that night and they ate together in Erwin's office. Erwin had improved drastically over the course of the day and the doctor anticipated he would be stable enough to go back to commanding in a limited capacity in the morning. Kat was elated. A knock on the door interrupted the conversation Levi and Kat were having.

“Come in,” Kat said as she sipped her tea.

Zach entered. His face looked grim, his eyes were swollen and red, and his trembling hands were holding a letter.

“Zach? I thought you were taking a week off?” Kat asked as she stood and walked around the desk. “What's wrong?”

Zach looked at her, and then over at Levi.

Kat followed his gaze and turned to her fiance, “Can you give us a minute?”

“No, no,” Zach said as he took in a shuddering breath, trying to keep his tears at bay, “It's fine, he can stay. We're all about to family anyways, right?” He held out the letter to Kat.

She took it slowly and looked at the front. 'Zacharius’ was scrawled across the front. “What's this?” She asked.

“We met with the lawyer today to go over Dad's will. He split everything evenly among my four brothers and only left me this letter. I read it already, but now I want you to read it.”

She cocked an eyebrow down at the envelope and walked back over to her desk. Zach followed and sat in the chair next to Levi, giving the captain a simple nod in greeting. Levi reciprocated. Kat sat down and opened the letter. The page was half filled with the fast writing of a merchant.

> _Dear Zach,_
> 
> _If you're reading this letter, it means I was too much of a coward to tell you everything in person before I died. I'm sorry about that, this is something I should have told you when you were a kid, but I never could manage to do it._
> 
> _I'm not your father. _
> 
> _About a year before you were born, your mother and I were having some problems. She turned to another man for comfort and got pregnant. Unfortunately, the man she had an affair with was also married with a pregnant wife at home. Instead of ending both marriages, your mother left him and came back to me. I forgave her and promised I would raise you as my own._
> 
> _But then your mother died. And I was left with a child who wasn't my blood. A child I now had to care for along with my four other children. I'm sorry for how I treated you growing up. You didn't deserve the neglect and indifference, but I just couldn't help but feel anger and resentment every time I looked at you. I know that makes me a piece of shit, but all I can do now is apologize._
> 
> _Your real father is a man named Gregor Sloan. I planned on taking you to him once you could walk on your own, but he died before you got old enough. I'm sorry again that you never got a chance to meet your true father. _
> 
> _I don't expect you to ever forgive me, but I hope this letter brings some closure to your life._
> 
> _Murphy Henderson_

Kat looked up from the letter, her hand shaking so hard the paper was rattling.

“What was your dad's name, Kat?” Zach asked quietly.

Levi was switching his gaze between the two of them.

“Greg,” she whispered and handed the letter to Levi. “So… what now?” Kat asked as Levi read.

“I'm not sure. Bastard didn't even say he loved me or that he's proud of what I've become or anything. Just…” he trailed off with a sigh, throwing his hands in the air. “All these years and he still doesn’t consider me a son.”

“Do you think you'll keep going by Henderson?” Levi asked as he gave the letter back to the younger man.

Zach sighed again. “I don't know. I don't feel a connection to Henderson or to Sloan.” He paused and looked up at his squad leader. “What do you think, Kat?”

She shrugged. “You do whatever you want. I don't feel a connection to my parents, but I feel one with our background and culture as Sloans. I'll be happy to tell you the stories and traditions of the family.”

Zach nodded. “Yeah, I think I would like that.”

“And then, if you have kids in the future, you can pass everything on to them,” she said.

“You’re not going to have kids?” He asked as he looked between the two captains.

Levi and Kat didn't even have to look at each other, they just said, “No,” simultaneously.

“Okay, let's hear it,” Zach said and leaned back in his chair.

“First and most important thing: the Sloan family blessing. We used to say a shorter version of it as a goodbye growing up, but I always say the full thing right before we leave for expedition.”

“Is that why you're always mumbling to yourself when we're in formation at the gate?” Levi asked.

“Yup,” she answered simply, “From what I've been told, this is kind of like the funeral prayer I told you before. It's not from one source, it's a conglomeration of stuff from different ancient sources.”

Zach nodded.

She continued, “May the road rise to meet us and the wind be ever at our backs. May the sun shine warm upon our faces and the earth be soft under our feet. May our days be many and our troubles few. May our blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow and may trouble avoid us wherever we go.”

“Are these written down somewhere?” Zach asked.

“Nope,” Kat answered. “All oral tradition.”

“Can you write them down for me?”

“Nope,” she said again, this time smirking.

He groaned.

“You'll get it eventually. Welcome to the family, Zach.”

"What the hell is a shamrock?" Levi asked.


	16. The Patch

A week passed. 

Erwin was back to full duty and Hange had finished her investigation into Ragako. Mike was still missing, but his mutilated horse had been found so everyone assumed the worst. Zach had filed the documents to legally change his last name to Sloan and Kat finally got a chance to work through her own mountains of reports and paperwork. Officially, Levi was still on medical leave for his leg, but he spent most of his time traveling back and forth between Kat's office and the remote cabin where Eren and Historia were hiding with the rest of his squad. He helped her whenever he had free time by bringing her meals, making her tea, and taking over on paperwork when her eyes started to hurt or her hand cramped. During their short breaks from work, they curled up on her couch and talked. Now that they were engaged, they were catching up on all the things normal couples would have learned about each other over the course of ten years. 

Kat told Levi the story about her brother and her parents and he pretended like he was hearing it for the first time. She told him that she did have some relatives that lived in the interior, but no one had wanted a child murderer living with them so they let her go to an orphanage instead of adopting her. She did have one creepy uncle that would come visit her at the orphanage and tell her about their family, trying to convince the orphanage workers that it was “private” and “secret” information that non-family really shouldn’t hear. Probably luckily for Kat, the staff always stuck around regardless of what he said - no one ever left them alone.

Levi told her the story of his childhood with his mother that led to his upbringing with the man named Kenny. She had known the circumstances that brought him to the Scouts and had been on the expedition where Farlan and Isabel had died, but she didn't know the extent of their crimes in the Underworld - mostly theft, but also a lot of assault, some murder, and some torture.

They didn't judge each other about their pasts. They knew everything that happened before was for survival. That was all either of them had ever really done: survive. But now they had something else to live for.

“Zach found out something recently that he shared with me,” Kat said.

“What’s that?” Levi asked.

“He’s been doing more research into the Sloan family. I know all of our oral traditions, but he wanted to know more about our family tree and our documented history.”

“Did he find anything good?”

“He found that we’re one of the seven original noble families in King Fritz’s court.”

Levi nodded. “So were the Ackermans. I guess that means you’ve got some special bloodline like us?”

She shrugged. “Apparently we’re known for our extraordinary luck.”

“That…” He paused, trying to decide what to say. “That’s your bloodline ability? Luck?”

She sighed and put her face in her hands. “I know! It’s the dumbest shit ever! Luck is not a special ability!” She took her face out of her hands and looked up at the ceiling. “But ever since he told me, I’ve been thinking back to everything that’s ever happened to me. Every single thing I have won or survived or achieved could easily be contributed to luck. I’m not nearly as strong as I thought I was, as everyone thinks I am.”

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her head over to rest in the crook of his neck. “You know, luck’s only part of it. You can be put into the perfect situation, but if you don’t recognize it and take advantage, it doesn’t matter.”

She sighed again and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I guess you’re right.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Levi spoke again. “Are you done with all of your paperwork and reports?”

“Yes. I'm ready for a stiff drink and some time to relax.”

“Let's go to the courthouse.”

“I haven't had a chance to buy a dress.”

“You have one already. You wore it to Erwin's promotion ball, I remember it. Just wear that one.”

“Is there a reason you're suddenly in such a rush?” She asked.

"Erwin has a bad feeling that something is brewing in the interior. I want you and Zach to come with me to the safehouse, and I'm not sure when we're coming back here, if we ever get to come back. I don't want us to miss our chance.”

After Zach changed his name, Levi had taken to calling him ‘Zach’ instead of ‘Henderson’.

“Okay, I'll turn in all my paperwork and we can go. We can get some dinner and drinks tonight to celebrate, consummate our marriage, pack our bags, and we can leave for the cabin in the morning.”

“Consummation before or after dinner?” He asked with a smirk.

“Yes,” she answered with a matching smirk.

\----

Levi continued making trips back and forth from the safehouse to Trost, but Kat stayed at the cabin as a constant watch on Levi's new squad. Zach's doctor-ordered three weeks of rest was finally over and he was able to help out with chores and watch duty. Eren's hardening experiments were going terribly. It was starting to wear on everybody, but they all tried to stay positive for the sake of morale. Eren was doing everything he could and pushing himself past his normal limits, but it just wasn't working for some reason.

Levi did everything he could to make it back to the cabin and spend his nights with his new wife, but there were times where he got tied up in town and couldn't make it back. Kat understood, of course, and never had a problem with being on her own. She missed Levi and wished he would just stay at the cabin full-time, but she would never voice her selfish desires. He had enough to deal with already, he didn't need a clingy girl making him feel guilty for being away. And so, whenever it was just the two of them at night in their room, they made the most of it. No talk about work, no planning future missions, just the two of them enjoying each other and relishing in their limited amount of time together.

They were in bed one night, Levi sitting with his back propped against the headboard as Kat laid with her head in his lap. “I got something for you and Zach when I was in town last time,” Levi said as he leaned over and started digging through his pack.

“Oh yeah?” She asked, half asleep. 

He handed her a thick piece of cloth. 

She sat up a little and unfolded the fabric. Plain white cotton with intricate cursive embroidery:

> _ **May the road rise to meet us  
and the wind be ever at our back  
May the sun shine warm upon our face  
and the earth be soft under our feet  
May our days be many and our troubles few  
May our blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow  
and may trouble avoid us wherever we go** _

She looked up at him, eyes wide. “Levi… this is beautiful.”

“I got a few of them, they all look the same. I thought maybe you could sew them inside your cloaks.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed his bare chest. “I love how thoughtful you are.”

He grinned and ran his fingers through her hair. “I’m glad you guys finally found some family who loves you.”

“You know you’re a part of that family, too, right?”

He leaned down and kissed her. “I know.”

“I want you to have one of the patches.”

He grinned again and slid down to lay next to her. “Thank you, I would love one.”


	17. Kenny

One night after dinner, after a few weeks at the safehouse, Hange dropped a bombshell: Pastor Nick had been tortured and killed by the interior Military Police.

“How many of his nails were torn out?” Levi asked.

Hange answered, “I'm not sure exactly, all of them that I could see.”

“If someone's going to talk, they do it after getting one nail torn off. I think it's safe to assume that he kept all of his secrets to himself.”

Kat sighed and leaned against the wall next to Hange. “So what do we do now?”

There was a knock at the front door and a messenger entered with a letter from Erwin.

Levi read it quickly before sighing and saying, “We need to go. Make sure you leave no trace that we were here.”

Everyone but Levi and Kat scrambled to their feet and ran to their rooms to start packing. The newlyweds stood in the dining room staring at each other.

“Something bad?” Kat asked, nodding at the letter.

Levi sighed again and handed the paper to her. His silver wedding band glinted in the sunlight streaming through the window. “New orders just came down from central command. They’re freezing all Scout activities outside the wall and we are to immediately hand over Eren and Historia.”

Kat stepped forward and wrapped him in a hug. “I'll pack our things, you make sure they clean everything.”

He sighed once more and pulled her into him, burying his face in her hair. “Looks like we're committing treason again.”

“They may call it that if we get caught, but that's not what we're doing. We're trying to save humanity.”

“Then I guess we just can't let ourselves get caught.”

\----

Kat drove Eren and Historia's covered wagon while the rest of the plan unfolded in another part of the city. Jean, once again disguised as Eren, and Armin, disguised as Historia, were going to be “kidnapped”. Levi's squad would then follow and rescue them and get as many answers as possible from the kidnappers. Meanwhile, the members of Hange's squad that she had been able to spare would watch over the real Eren and Historia as they traveled to Commander Pixis’ office. Zach sat in the back of the covered wagon watching their rear as Kat watched the front and sides. He had been the only fresh soldier allowed to help the real operation. Kat had insisted that they stick together and, after much arguing, Levi and Hange had finally relented. He was green, but Kat had personally taught him everything she knew.

“Is it just me, or is everything going a little too smoothly?” Zach asked quietly from his seat inside the wagon.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Kat mumbled, trying not to make it obvious that she was talking to her cargo. 

Something was wrong, and it made the hairs on the back of Kat's neck stand up. Zach obviously felt it, too. Eren and Historia stayed silent. As Kat waited for a crowd to clear in front of them, gunshots rang out from behind them. Kat took a quick glance back and saw Nifa's motionless body slumped on the roof where she was supposed to be stationed with Levi. She didn't get a chance to look for Levi as two people suddenly appeared from the side. They were wearing ODM harnesses, but instead of scabbards on their thighs they had a ring of round cylinders, and their triggers had gun barrels attached to them.

Eren and Historia poked their heads out to ask Kat what was happening.

“Stay in there,” she ordered as she snapped the reins, urging Dudley to move faster. “Zach, look alive, two incoming!”

The cover was ripped off the wagon and, before Zach could react, Eren and Historia were unconscious on the floor with darts sticking out of their necks. A woman flew down and aimed her weapon at Kat's head, but Zach flung a dagger that embedded in her hand before she could pull the trigger. She let out a screech and Kat was able to kick her away from the wagon, sending her crashing into the street. Zach turned to fly up and fight the remaining enemy, but stopped when he heard Levi's voice.

“Sloans!” They both looked up and saw Levi flying over them. “Get out of here! They know all our movements!”

Zach started to protest, but as they passed a street, three more people appeared from out of nowhere. They were all using the same modified ODM gear - all six barrels were trained on Levi. Levi quickly changed direction, going back in the opposite direction of the newcomers. Kat dropped the reins and launched off the wagon after Levi, barely fast enough to avoid the blast that landed exactly where she had been sitting. An enemy took her spot and picked up the reins. Zach went to the left and tried to hide so that he could follow the wagon. He hoped that the two captains would offer enough distraction that he could slip away unnoticed.

Kat followed close behind the three people chasing Levi. He was moving like a madman, tumbling in such a controlled manner through the narrow alleyways that he was nearly a blur. Kat remembered him telling her that this type of environment was where he had first taught himself how to use ODM. She had asked him years ago, when they were both new recruits, how he had been so good on the ODM course his first time through. He had scoffed at her back then and ignored her question, but now she knew. She recognized the urgency behind his moves and knew he was worried. She had to help him.

She realized that these people were limited in their aiming capabilities due to how their gear was modified, so she loaded two fresh blades and launched an anchor into the thigh of one of the three pursuers. The man screamed and started falling, too distracted by his pain to launch a new anchor and keep up his momentum. Kat reeled herself in, planted a foot in the middle of the man's back, and kicked down as hard as she could. Her anchor came free from his leg and he slammed into the cobblestones below. The blood from the ragged hole in his leg quickly mixed with the blood pouring from his broken skull.

Kat kept moving. She tried the same trick on the next guy, but her first victim's scream had ruined her element of surprise. The second guy turned and aimed his barrel right at Kat's chest. She dodged left and one of the pellets from the buckshot grazed her bicep. She ignored the pain and launched forward. These guns only had one shot per barrel, so she took the opportunity while he couldn't reload and threw one of her blades. It embedded in his stomach just below his armored breastplate and he dropped.

They were at the end of the chase now. Levi flew through the doors of a bar and his final pursuer stopped outside. This final man was attached to a wall, hanging there and spinning around, his one gun aiming wildly in every possible direction, looking for her. She quickly came up from below and drove her dagger through his jaw and into his skull. His body fell limp against the stone building he was attached to. Kat turned to go find more of these gun toting psychopaths, but someone grabbed her. She swung her left hand up, trying to slice the person, but they caught her wrist and held her hand up in front of their face.

“Ohhh,” the man holding her crooned. “Now I see why you were chasing us like you were.” He twisted her hand, making her wedding band glint in the sunlight. “The runt found himself a little girlfriend, eh?”

Kat growled and aimed to kick out the man’s kneecap, but he read her movements and tightened his chokehold around her neck. She gasped and put her foot down.

“Good girl,” he said into her ear, “Now let's go flush out a rat.”

He squeezed her wrist tighter and she dropped her bloody dagger, letting it hit the pavement with a clatter. Kat looked for a chance to try and break the chokehold but quickly realized that, even if she managed it, there were too many enemies waiting outside to kill her if she made the wrong move. And so she went with the man into the bar, doing her best to pretend like this was the last thing she wanted. Like she didn't want to get into a situation where he was outnumbered by her and Levi.

“The law has come to flush out the vermin!” The man yelled as he kicked the bar's door open and stepped inside, dragging Kat in with him. They both looked around for Levi, but he wasn't in the main room. Kat had seen him come in, she even saw the holes in the bar where he had anchored himself, but otherwise there was no sign of him. “What the hell? Ain't you here?” The man asked.

“Yeah, Kenny, I'm here. It's been a while,” Levi's voice came from behind the bar but he didn't make himself seen.

So this was Kenny. The man who saved Levi from starvation, took him under his wing, taught him everything he needed to know to survive in the Underground, and then disappeared. 

“Long time no see, Levi. I've got your girl here with me.”

“Kat?” Levi called calmly from behind the bar, checking to see if she was actually there. He unconsciously spun his wedding band around his finger.

“I'm here, Levi,” she answered.

“Are you hurt?”

“No I'm fine.”

“Good,” he said as he discreetly turned a wine bottle to see hers and Kenny's reflection.

“Sorry I let myself get caught,” Kat replied, noticing his small movement and realizing that he could now see them.

Kenny interrupted them, “How'd a runt like you land a cutie like this?” As he spoke, he reached over and grabbed an empty chair. 

Levi ignored the goad. He knew Kenny was just trying to get under his skin. “Still killing people, huh, Kenny? You're not tired of that yet?”

“I’m only killing those who get in the way of my goals,” Kenny responded and threw his chair at the back of the bar, shattering a large selection of the amber bottles lining the wall. “What about you? Joined the Scouts, huh? Well I guess we all have our hobbies.” He grabbed another empty chair, holding it out to the side in a wind up motion.

Kat felt that, when Kenny was holding a chair, his grip on her had to loosen so that he could keep his gun aimed at Levi. He was underestimating her, assuming he didn't need to pay more attention to what she was doing.

Kenny continued speaking, "What about you, Levi? Wouldn't you kill someone to accomplish your goals?"

Kat heard Levi quietly answer, "Yeah." 

She felt Kenny's grip tighten at Levi's answer. She took the chance while he was distracted and shoved his arm away from her and dropped to the ground, laying prone. At the same time, Levi pulled out the bar keeper's shotgun, dropped it on the bar top, and fired. Kenny was blasted outside onto the street and Kat scrambled to her feet. Levi was already up on the bar. A wide streak of blood ran down his face.

“How many outside?” He asked her.

“One on our roof, two due West and another Southwest.”

“We'll go out the back. I'll go first and distract them so you can slip away. Go find the wagon, I’ll be right behind you,” he spoke quickly. They didn't have any time to waste.

“Got it,” she answered simply and reloaded her blades. She didn’t like him using himself as bait, but he was much more experienced fighting against guns than she was.

Levi grabbed a chair and they ran to the back of the bar. He threw the chair through the back window and the man on their roof emptied both of his shots into it, not realizing it was a ruse. Levi jumped out the shattered window with Kat immediately behind him. He launched an anchor into the man’s neck and dragged him over to the western roof where two of his comrades were readying their guns. Levi pulled the dead man’s corpse in front of him, using it as a shield so that he could get close enough to the other two to slice them open. As he fought, Kat made a wide northeastern arc to avoid the bloodshed before coming back to a straight northern heading. The wagon had to have been going to the interior, and she needed to get to it before it got behind the gate.

She spotted Zach rounding a corner a few blocks ahead and sped up to keep from losing sight of him. Her bad hip was starting to ache from the complicated movements she was pulling to navigate these tight corners, but she wasn’t going to let it stop her. She rounded one last corner and saw the wagon just ahead of her, Zach trailing close behind it. A woman was driving the cart, but no one was guarding Eren and Historia’s unconscious bodies in the back. However, as they got closer, a man landed in the back of the cart and stood over their captives.

Levi appeared behind Kat and Zach with the rest of his squad. “They’re used to fighting humans,” he was explaining to them. “They already killed three of our own. If you want to save Eren, you can't hesitate. If you get a chance to kill, you do it. Got it?”

“Sir.” Mikasa had been the only one to respond. Kat understood everyone else's hesitation. None of them had joined the Scouts to kill humans, they had joined to save humans.

Kat threw a blade at the driver. She knew it would be easy for the man in the back to block it, but while he was distracted blocking her blade, Levi shot an anchor into his gut and pulled him out of the cart. Kat did the same to the driver, yanking the woman off the bench and onto the street. More of Kenny's men appeared before the two captains could drop down to the cart.

“Armin! Jean! Secure the cart, we'll cover you!” Levi ordered and turned back to the man following him who had both of his barrels trained on Levi's torso.

Kat appeared from below and sliced up the length of the man's back, cutting his armored harness in half as she went. Another woman landed in the cart and pointed her gun in Jean's face. Kat rocketed forward. She was out of blades, but she could at least tackle the woman off the cart. But before she got too close, a gunshot rang out and the side of the woman's head exploded.

Armin sat shakily in the driver's seat, gun pointed behind him, his eyes wide in disbelief. Kat landed next to him and took the reins from his hands. She wanted to say something to him to ease that look of pain on his face, but she couldn't think of anything. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't see the three new enemies appear all around them. Levi grabbed Armin, Sasha grabbed Jean, and Zach grabbed Kat just in time for all of them to narrowly avoid the gunshots. They all landed and watched as the cart disappeared behind the gate with five of Kenny's men following close behind.

Kat heard footsteps running up behind her and turned to catch Mikasa just as the younger woman tried to run past her.

Levi came up and grabbed Mikasa's other arm. “Fall back!” He ordered as she continued to struggle against their hold.

The two captains eventually managed to calm Mikasa down enough to walk her back toward everyone else. Zach was standing, glaring at the gate with his fists clenched at his sides.

As Kat approached him, she heard him mumble, “My goddamn horse.”


	18. The Rescue

Everyone was silent around the fire that night as they ate. Kat shared a crate with Levi, sitting on the opposite side from him and leaning her back flush against his. She had one leg bent in a way that slowly stretched out her sore hip and she nibbled on her ration bar. She listened quietly as Armin and Jean spoke about what happened on the cart earlier. 

“Why was I the one to shoot first?” Armin asked.

Jean grit his teeth, not wanting to answer.

“Because the other person hesitated,” Kat answered for him and took the last bite of her ration.

Everyone looked up at her. It was the first time she'd spoken in nearly six hours.

“It's true,” Levi agreed.

“I see,” Armin said quietly. “They must have been a good person. Better than me. I pulled the trigger so easily…” his voice was trailing off.

Kat closed her eyes and dipped her chin down. Poor Armin.

“Armin,” Levi spoke, “You've got blood on your hands now. There's no going back to the person you were before. Embrace the new you.”

Kat squirmed a little, she didn't like the way Levi was wording his thoughts. She didn't think anyone should “embrace” being a killer of humans. “Armin, you saved Jean,” she said. “You acted in self defense.”

Levi must have picked up on Kat's different tone, because he also changed direction when he spoke next, “You pulled the trigger because you saw your comrade was in danger. Because you got blood on your hands, no one on this squad died today. Thank you.” Levi stood from the crate and handed his mug of tea to Kat. She took it and spun around, taking his spot facing the fire. “It's time to see if this guy's ready to talk to us,” he said as he walked over to their detainee, the leader of the men who had kidnapped the fake Eren and Historia.

\----

Levi's plan with Dimo Reeves had been a success and now they had the two MPs that had tortured and killed Pastor Nick. Kat squatted in the corner of the basement of their new hideout, leaning back against the stone wall with her hands lightly resting on her knees. She watched through heavy eyelids as her husband put on a long butcher's apron to protect his civilian clothes.

Sannes's eyes kept flicking between the two of them. “I always knew you Scouts were nothing more than animals,” he spat at both of them. 

“Hey now,” Kat said from her spot against the wall. "We haven't even started yet. Don't go lumping us in with the likes of you before you even see what we've got.”

Levi smirked behind their prisoner as he started pulling on some long rubber gloves. 

“So… what?” Sannes was trying to keep his tone even. “Are we doing the good cop, bad cop routine? Captain Shorty is gonna rough me up and then Captain Bitch is gonna offer me a deal to make it stop?”

“First of all,” Levi started and backhanded Sannes, sending one of his teeth skittering across the floor, “Show some respect when you speak to my wife. Second of all, there's not going to be any deal making later on.”

“Then why is she here?” Sannes asked. 

Levi took a step back from the bound man and rolled his shoulders. “She's here to stop me if I lose control.”

“Maybe,” Kat said with a smirk as Levi reeled back and punched Sannes square in the nose.

\----

Kat stayed still as Levi worked. She didn't watch, but she also didn't purposefully avert her gaze. She had never known Levi to be cruel. Short-tempered, sure, and the cadets probably thought his punishments were unfair, but Kat knew he never threw more at a person than what they could handle. He had a knack for knowing a person's limits and pushing them right to the edge. He had done it to her and made her stronger. He was doing it now to Sannes to wear him down without completely breaking him. 

Hange arrived and Kat let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. “I'll leave you to it, then,” Kat said as she finally stood, her knees cracking from having been bent for so long. “I'll go check on the other one.”

Levi watched her leave before turning back to Sannes.

Kat walked to the other cell in the basement and opened the door. Ralph was tied there with a gag in his mouth, similar to his comrade in the adjacent room. He, however, wasn't roughed up at all. Not yet, anyways. “Alright Ralph, here's the deal,” Kat said as she closed the door behind her. “If you want to keep your fingernails, you'll do exactly what I say. Got it?” 

In the other room, a scream pierced the air. Ralph nodded, sweat beading on his forehead. 

She could tell he didn't have nearly the amount of resolve Sannes did. Lucky for him, Kat didn't have nearly as much resolve as Levi. “I have a written script in my pocket. In a little while, we're going to take you out of here and you're going to read that script word-for-word. If you deviate even a single syllable, you will be right back in this room and we'll start asking you questions instead of Sannes.” 

Another scream from the next room. He nodded again. Kat grinned and pulled up a chair across from him.

She sat, and they waited.

\----

Overall, the questioning had gone well. Sannes had given them a lot of information and he was now being kept in a cell with Ralph. Hange had passed on the information they learned to the new recruits.

“Also, we believe that the government has a titan in their control that will eat Eren and gain his power,” Hange explained.

Kat was already stepping over to the door to block Mikasa's attempted exit. She held an arm out to block the younger woman, hoping the face she was giving her was sympathetic. “Mikasa,” Kat spoke quietly. “You need to stay calm and we need to think of a plan. Especially now that we know Kenny is part of this. We run in there unprepared and we’ll all die and Eren will get eaten.”

Mikasa's shoulders slumped and she slowly sat back down. 

“It's late. Get some rest everyone, we leave first thing in the morning,” Levi said.

“Where are we going?” Jean asked.

“The Reiss family is behind this, so we're going to the family estate to search for Eren and Historia,” Levi answered.

Everyone soon left and went back to their shared rooms. This new base didn't have many bedrooms, but the ones that were there were very large. Large enough for two or three people to share while still having some privacy and space. Levi and Kat only took up one bed, but they refused to share quarters with anyone. Instead of taking an entire large room to themselves, they found the single small servant's room tucked away from the other bedrooms and took that. A bed, a small desk and chair, a wooden chest at the foot of the bed, and a wash basin in the corner. The room had been dusty when they arrived, but otherwise tidy. It had been easy and fast to get it cleaned to Levi's liking. There were no clean linens for the beds in this estate, so most of them were just sleeping in their bed rolls on the mattresses. Levi and Kat had unfurled and laid out one of their bedrolls to lay on while the other would act like a blanket for the two of them.

Kat closed the door behind them as they walked inside. She smirked at the silhouette of Levi's strong shoulders in the moonlight coming through the single window in their room. “I love that shirt on you,” she said.

He stopped what he was doing and looked over his shoulder at her. “What brought that on?”

She walked around in front of him and stepped in close to run her hands up his stomach, and then his chest, and then up across his shoulders. “I was watching you earlier while Hange was talking to everyone, and you were just standing there all cool and aloof, and this shirt fits across your chest and shoulders so nicely, and all I could think about was the awful things I wanted you to do to me.” Her hands slid back down his chest and stomach, coming to rest with her fingers hooked into the top of his pants.

He looked down at her and put both of his hands on her ass, squeezing lightly as he pulled her hips into his. “Yeah? Like what?” His voice was husky.

“You’ve never tied me up before. I think I would like that.”

His breath started getting ragged as he thought about how she would look tied up. Helpless. Under his control. His pants were getting uncomfortably tight. “Do you normally think like that when we're in a room full of people?”

“Not always,” she answered honestly. “Just sometimes I can't help myself when I see you being so unintentionally fucking sexy.”

“Take your clothes off,” he said quickly as he let go of her and stepped over to their ODM gear in the corner of the room. 

She obeyed and tore her clothes off, leaving them in a haphazard pile on the floor. She practically leapt into the bed she was so excited. Levi walked over holding some disassembled straps from various parts of their harnesses. He was shirtless now, but still wore his pants. She took a moment to shamelessly stare at him, drinking in all the contours of his muscles. His shoulders, his sculpted chest, his lean stomach, his scars, his bruises, his callouses.

He took her right hand and started wrapping a strap around her wrist. “Too tight?” He asked as he fastened it to the bedpost. The knot was easy to release, but designed to get tighter if she pulled on it.

“No it's perfect,” she answered and reached over with her left hand to palm his erection through the fabric of his pants.

He groaned quietly and climbed into bed, straddling her hips and leaning down to give her a hungry kiss. She moaned into his mouth and massaged her tongue against his as she rubbed him a little faster. He reached down and grabbed her left hand, copying what he had done with her right. Now he was between her legs, pressing his hips into hers as he kissed her again. She pulled on the restraints, wanting to dig her nails into him like she usually did. She whined when she realized she couldn't, but at the same time she loved the sensation. She had never been so vulnerable, had never put so much trust in another person. Levi relished in the fact that, even after all the years, he could still make her squirm and writhe underneath him like they were lust drunk teenagers. Now it was his turn to sit back and shamelessly stare at her. She had always been a pretty girl, but now she was a beautiful woman. Scarred and hard bodied and stubborn and loving and intelligent and so completely his and he would do absolutely anything for her.

He sat back on his knees and pulled her hips up to his face, resting her thighs on his shoulders as he slowly ran his flattened tongue up the length of her core. She sighed and bucked her hips a little. He did it again, this time a little faster. Her hips bucked again and he dug his nails into them to hold her still as he sped up, narrowing his tongue slightly to focus more on her clit. She moaned and looked up at him. He was looking back at her, his bangs dangling in front of his eyes as his tongue slipped in and out of view, buried in her wet folds. Her jaw dropped open and her eyes rolled back in her head as her entire body quaked in pleasure and she pulled on her restraints.

“Fuck Levi I’m gonna come,” she managed to get out between pants and moans.

He pulled his tongue away, but kept his lips resting on hers. “Already?” He asked with a smirk.

“No, please don’t stop,” she begged and yanked on her restraints.

“Since you asked nicely,” he said quietly and went back to her clit, moving his tongue fast and rough over it.

She felt all of her muscles tensing in anticipation of what was about to happen. She was pulling so hard on her restraints that her shoulders were starting to lift off the bed. And then finally it released. She let out one long, loud groan as her entire body shook in orgasm. Levi gripped onto her hips a little tighter to keep her still as she involuntarily squeezed his head between her thighs. Her groan finished, replaced by gasps and panting and expletives as she rode out the rest of her orgasm. Levi slowly decreased the pressure and speed of his tongue until she was completely melted into the mattress, spent of all energy. He let her hips slide down onto the bed again and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He leaned forward and untied her left hand. It immediately shot down to his pants and unbuttoned them. She reached inside and started stroking his rock hard erection as he tried to concentrate on getting her right hand untied. He was finally able to free it and it moved down to join her left hand.

“Fuck me, Levi,” she whispered as she sat up and roughly pulled his pants down around his knees. She continued stroking him with both hands, being careful not to grip too hard, as she leaned forward and smashed her lips onto his.

He groaned and leaned into the kiss, bracing himself with a hand on either side of her on the bed. If she kept this up, he wasn’t going to last much longer than she had. He willed himself to pull back and get out of bed. She whined a little.

“Turn over on your stomach,” he ordered as he untied one of the leather straps from the headboard.

She quickly obeyed and rolled over, watching him intently. He got back into bed and took both of her hands, tying her wrists together behind her back with a single strap. He grabbed one of their pillows and put it under her hips, angling her up towards him.

“Everything still okay?” He asked as he positioned himself kneeling behind her. He ran a hand up her thigh and across her ass, kneading it roughly.

She sighed in pleasure, still coming down from her high. “Yes,” she answered simply.

“Good,” he responded and guided himself into her, watching as his cock disappeared and was enveloped in her hot, wet tightness. Once he was inside, he took a moment to admire the sight. Her plump ass pressed up against his pelvis, the way her delicate fingers curled into light fists at her lower back, the slope of her shoulders, the hazy look in her eye as she lay with her face pushed into the mattress, hair spreading out in a messy halo around her head.

She rocked forward an inch or two, moving away from him, before rocking backward again, forcing him back into her. She was getting impatient. “I said fuck me,” she growled.

He let out a shaky breath and hooked both of his hands in the bend of her hips. The thrusts started slow, but he quickly sped up as she started moaning and wiggling underneath him again. He went harder, pulling her hips back into his to force his cock even deeper as he slammed into her. Her moans and pants and cries were obscene now. She briefly thought that she was glad the servant's quarters were so far from the other rooms, otherwise breakfast the next morning would have been awkward.

“Fuck I'm gonna come,” Levi grunted out, his thrusting getting more erratic and desperate.

Kat clenched her walls down as hard as she could while she continued moaning. Levi yelled a few expletives and gripped hard on Kat's hips, digging his nails into her soft skin as he dropped forward and dug his teeth into her shoulder to muffle the rest of his loud moan. Four more thrusts, each a little weaker and shallower than the last, and then he collapsed on top of her, breathing heavily into the back of her head.

Kat let him relax for just a moment before she wiggled her bound fingers, poking him in the stomach. He sat back up with a groan. He untied her hands and tossed the leather strap back in the general direction of their ODM gear. He slowly pulled himself out of his wife and took the pillow out from under her hips. She sat up and rubbed her right shoulder a little, trying to work out the stiffness from having them pinned in awkward positions for so long.

Levi reached over the edge of the bed and grabbed the shirts they had been wearing. He used one to wipe himself off as he handed the other one to Kat so she could do the same. He crawled and sat against the headboard. "Come here, I'll rub your shoulders," he said quietly.

Kat grinned and turned around, sitting between his legs. He ran his fingers through her hair to get some of the knots out and moved it away from her shoulders before putting his hands on her shoulders and starting to massage them, focusing on the joints to work out the kinks. Kat sighed at the feeling of his warm, strong hands on her cold, bare shoulders. 

“Did you like that?” Levi asked as he continued his massage.

She smiled. “Yeah I liked that a lot.”

"Me too," he said and took his hands from her shoulders, moving them down to her waist and pulling her back flush against his chest. He ran his hands back up her sides to her shoulders, and then moved them down her arms to her bruised wrists. He rested his face against the side of her head and said, "You might want to wear long sleeves for a little while," as he gently rubbed the dark black and blue rings with his thumbs.

She sighed happily and melted into him, lacing their fingers together and pulling his arms around her middle as she pulled her knees up. “I love you.”

“I love you too," he said and kissed the side of her head.

They sat there for a few more minutes before Kat heard Levi yawn into her ear. “Let's get some sleep,” she said and scooted to lay down, bringing Levi with her. “Or at least as much as we can.”

He sighed contentedly and pulled the bedroll up to cover them. “Good night,” he said sleepily into the back of her neck.

“Good night,” she responded in the same sleepy voice.


	19. The Rescue Part 2

Everyone was up before dawn the next day. No one had slept well, wound too tight with worry and tension to be able to relax.

They had to stop walking around lunch time to eat. Normally, they would have loaded Dudley up like a pack horse with rations and just kept walking through the day, but without him they were not able to carry enough supplies at one time for such a long trek. Jean, Armin, and Mikasa returned from town with supplies and bad news: The Scouts were being hunted down and put under arrest. They were being accused of killing civilians and multiple members of the Interior Police.

“What do we do?” Armin asked.

“Kat, how long do we have until Reiss gets to his territory?” Levi asked. They had both slept their usual three hours and then spent most of the rest of the night drinking tea and talking through different plans for the day, studying maps and going through "what-if" scenarios. She remembered numbers and figures and distances better than him, and he knew she would remember the distances marked on their maps.

“Assuming they’re transporting Eren in a wagon, it’ll take them at least a day to make it from Trost to Reiss’s land,” Kat answered.

“We’ll use that time to come up with a plan,” Levi said.

“Captain, I hear footsteps,” Sasha said and looked North, back up the road where Armin, Jean, and Mikasa had just come from.

Kat stood and quickly took to the trees in that direction, trying to find a high enough vantage point to see who was coming without them seeing or hearing her. Everyone waited patiently around the campsite for her to return.

It only took a minute or two before she was back down on the ground with them. “Two MPs. They look young, like new recruits,” Kat said quietly before anyone could ask. “They've got rifles.”

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Levi said and everyone stepped forward to form a circle around the Captain.

\----

Kat and Zach started pulling on the stolen MP uniforms while Levi talked with the two bound recruits. The uniforms didn’t fit exactly right, but they were the only ones close enough in size and appearance to Marlowe and Hitch to pull off the impersonation. Everyone listened as Hitch screamed at them for killing Annie and destroying so much of Stohess District.

"We didn't kill Annie," Kat said as she rebuckled her harness across her chest. "She was hiding among you as the Female Titan."

Hitch stared at her, eyes wide. "What? We were told she was missing!"

“It pisses me off that no one knows what’s really going on in this world. No one but the ones at the very center of it all,” Levi was saying, one of his blades thrown casually over his shoulder as he circled their prisoners. “We’ll let you two go once we’re out of here.”

“Captain Levi!” Marlowe shouted and turned to face him. “Let me help you. I’ll do whatever it takes to correct the injustice in this world,” he was scowling as he spoke.

“No way,” Kat said as she walked up, pulling Hitch’s jacket up over her shoulders. “Like we can count on you to make an enemy of the government that treats you so well.”

“She's right. Let’s go,” Levi said and put his blade away. “Sasha, tie them up somewhere nearby.”

“Sir!” she answered and started running over as everyone else started walking away.

“Captain,” Jean said as Levi walked past. “Let me do it.”

Levi looked back at Jean for a moment, considering his request. “Fine,” he answered and turned back around to follow Kat and Zach up the path. 

\----

Everyone was sitting back at the fire pit going over the details of the plan, a map spread out in the middle of the circle of bodies as everyone ate their lunch and listened to the two captains speak. They were almost done when Jean came walking up, Marlowe and Hitch close behind, neither of them wearing their restraints.

“What the hell, Jean?” Zach asked as he stood and pulled a dagger from his belt.

Jean spoke quickly, his hands spread out defensively in front of him, “We can trust them! I tested them myself, they’ll do what needs to be done for us.”

Everyone looked back at Kat and Levi. They looked at each other, Kat shrugged, and then they looked back at Jean.

“Fine,” Levi said. “Sloans, give them back their uniforms.”

The siblings sighed and started peeling off the MP uniforms they had just finished putting on.

\----

A few hours later, close to sunset, they were hiding in the forest surrounding an MP outpost. Marlowe and Hitch had led them here, explaining that it was the least-manned checkpoint. Levi kneeled in front of the two MPs as Kat stood nearby, up in a tree to survey the checkpoint.

“Two barricades, one is completely blocked with empty crates. At least five men that I can see, probably closer to ten based on the size of the checkpoint. The tent probably has their squad leader inside. No one seems particularly alert right now,” Kat explained just loud enough for Levi to hear her.

“All right. We’ll handle it ourselves. You two get back to your squad,” Levi said to Marlowe and Hitch.

“Yes sir,” they both answered and started walking off. 

As they approached the tree Kat was standing in, she said, “Thank you for everything, we're very grateful for the help.”

They both saluted up to her and quietly said, “Ma’am!” before continuing on their way.

Levi turned to Mikasa and Connie who were standing on the other side of him. “Let’s go.”

Kat looked across the road, just barely able to see Zach standing in his own tree opposite from her. She gave the signal and he hopped down to go find Jean and Sasha.

\----

Kat, Levi, and Zach stood together, deep in the woods away from the rest of the squad, interrogating the MP squad leader they had kidnapped from the checkpoint. Zach kept watch while his sister and brother-in-law worked. Kat squatted down in front of the middle-aged soldier. His black hair had come loose from the ponytail he’d been wearing earlier and his face was covered in bruises and scuff marks from Levi’s boots. Levi gave the man one more kick to the side of the face and then stepped back to let Kat speak.

“Where are Eren and Christa?” she asked.

“Oh, you’re so brave,” the man said with a sneer. “Beating the hell out of a bunch of recruits at a checkpoint. Some heroes the Survey Corps turned out to be,” he taunted.

“How awful for your poor recruits,” Kat taunted as Levi stuck his boot in the man’s mouth. “Unfortunately for them, we don’t give a shit. You better start talking while you still can, before you lose your jaw.”

Levi emphasized her words by shoving his foot even deeper.

“Where are Eren and Christa?” She asked again. 

Levi removed his foot and the man spit dirt and blood and horse shit into Kat's face.

"Fuck you," the squad leader barked.

Levi lunged for the man's throat, but Kat stopped him by putting a hand on his leg. She shook her head at him and wiped her face on her sleeve. 

“It’s no use,” the soldier finally said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’re all going to be arrested and hung for treason. We’ve already got Erwin Smith, the guiltiest one of you!”

“Shut up,” Levi said and quickly ducked down to spin the man around, twisting his arm behind his back until there was a loud ‘snap’ of cracking bone. “There are some Scout lives that are more valuable than others. Only those dumb enough to know that join us.”

Kat stood and walked around so that the man could see her again. She squatted down to eye level once more and asked, “Where are Eren and Christa?”

“I don’t know!” he shouted, tears in his eyes and several teeth missing from his gaping mouth. “They don’t tell us anything! Kenny Ackerman is a very cautious man!”

“Ackerman?” Levi asked quietly. Kat and Zach looked up at him, eyebrows raised. “I know Kenny… is that his last name?”

“Y-yes,” the man stuttered out, exhausted.

“He is known for not divulging a lot… especially the important stuff,” Levi said. 

“But you must have some kind of idea,” Kat said, looking back down at their captive. “Some hint or overheard conversation or weird order. Come on now.”

Levi stepped forward and grabbed the man’s uninjured arm.

“No! Stop!” he cried. 

“Someone’s coming!” Zach shouted and pointed his rifle out into the clearing they were standing next to. Kat slipped around to the other side of the tree they were standing at, slinging her own rifle around in front of her and using the trunk for cover. Levi took the squad leader down to the ground and pinned his good arm behind his back.

“I told you, idiot scouts,” the man taunted, “It’s no use. You’re all going down.”

They all watched tensely as two hooded figures approached from the open field in front of them. Zach trained his gun at the one on the right while Kat aimed hers at the one on the left. They were both carrying their own rifles, but neither of them raised them - they seemed unconcerned. Maybe they hadn’t spotted the trio yet, somehow?

“Kaaat,” Zach drew out her name, a frantic whisper asking what he should do.

“Just hold,” she whispered back.

Once the two newcomers were close enough for their faces to be seen in the dark, they pulled their hoods down. It was Hange and Moblit. Kat and Zach let out a collective sigh of relief and dropped their rifles.

“Ohhh,” Hange sang as she approached. “What a nice little family get together. Wow Kat what's that shit on your face?"

"You got a death wish, Four Eyes?" Levi growled.

"You people are insane," the squad leader muttered from his spot under Levi's foot.

Kat stepped around the tree. “Any news?” She asked the approaching soldiers.

Hange smiled at her devilishly. “Oh yes. I have news. Go get everyone else.”


	20. The Rescue Part 3

The recruits cheered, pumping their fists in triumph and jumping all over each other. The Scouts had won. Erwin was alive. The corrupt government had been exposed and overthrown. They could all stop running and hiding. Kat, Levi, and Hange stood quietly to the side and let the young soldiers celebrate. 

“Looks like our gamble paid off, for now,” Kat said. She was hesitant despite the news - she’d been in enough situations where everything looked great right up until the shit hit the fan.

“Yes,” Hange said with a nod and a grin. “It took a lot of individual decisions from a lot of different people to make this happen. We owe them everything for this change.”

They stood silently for a moment, turning to look at the recruits who were starting to settle down.

“I managed to kill the three people you loaned me. I’m sorry,” Levi said to Hange. “And the mission wasn’t even a success. Eren, Historia, and the leader of the kidnapping gang are hiding out somewhere.”

“I may know where they are,” Hange said. Everyone looked at her as she held up a thick, leather-bound book. “Let’s get there and put an end to this.”

\----

Now that they were no longer fugitives, they were able to outfit themselves with horses, supplies, and a cart from a local military outpost. Armin drove the cart while Mikasa, Hange, and Levi rode in the back. Jean and Moblit lead the caravan, Kat and Zach flanked the cart, and Connie and Sasha brought up the rear. 

Hange explained everything in the book she was holding, a scout report that Erwin had given her. Rod Reiss had once been a popular lord with a large family. On the day Wall Maria was breached, Reiss and his children gathered together in the only chapel on their land to pray. Bandits invaded and burned the chapel to the ground, killing everyone but Rod Reiss himself. A few days later, Rod sought out his only living blood, Historia, and Historia’s mother was killed in front of her.

“There must be a reason that Reiss and his lackeys are after Historia,” Hange said. 

“Is there some secret to their bloodline?” Kat asked, discreetly glancing between Mikasa and Levi before looking over at Zach.

“Maybe, but I’m not sure. What bothers me is the chapel. Bandits would get what they want and make a quick escape, not stick around to make sure an ancient stone building was completely destroyed,” Hange said.

“Were the bandits ever caught?” Zach asked. “Did anyone bother to ask them why they stuck around?”

Hange shook her head. “The only one who saw the bandits was Rod Reiss. But he didn’t want the police to pursue and he used his own fortune to rebuild the chapel.”

“Why?” Kat asked.

The brunette shook her head again. “I may be jumping to conclusions, but I think this is worth checking out. Before the end of the night, we’ll have Scouts all over Reiss land. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’ll wait that long. If we don’t hurry and get there, Eren may end up being eaten.”

“Can we assume Kenny and his men will be there?” Zach asked.

“If he is there, he’ll be our biggest obstacle,” Levi answered. “Imagine having me as an enemy. Actually, with those weapons of his, imagine having someone stronger than me as an enemy.”

“So there’s no hope for us then,” Sasha mumbled behind them.

Kat reached up and pinched her cloak between her fingers, finding the thicker spot where she had sewn her blessing patch, and began mumbling the words to herself. She knew how dangerous Kenny could be - Levi had told her all the stories. All she could do was hope that they caught a lucky break.

\----

They arrived at the chapel and spent a little time getting the barrels assembled and ready to use. Everyone went inside, rummaging around to try and find the entrance to the cavern that Hange predicted was underneath the building. They eventually found a hidden door underneath an ornate rug behind the altar.

“How many do you think are down there?” Hange asked as they stood around the trap door.

Kat put her hand to her chin and closed her eyes, talking to herself, drawing up figures and estimations in her head based on normal squad size, the number they had killed in the ambush, and the fact that a lot of the Interior Squad had been arrested. “My guess is thirty or forty,” she finally answered.

“So we’re outnumbered three to one and they have superior weapons,” Hange said, and then grinned. “We better hope the layout of this place is what I predicted, or else all our preparations will be useless.”

“Everything’s ready,” Armin said from next to them.

“Good,” Levi said and turned to the rest of the squad. “Is everyone ready to get their hands dirty?”

None of the recruits answered, they all just stared off into space with hard, worried looks in their eyes. It felt like just that morning that they were all almost killed by other humans for the first time. Now they were preparing to kill at least thirty more. Everything was moving so fast, developing so quickly.

“I think that means yes,” Kat said in response to their silence.

“Good,” Levi said again and lifted the trap door. A ladder led down to an empty hallway. They all descended.

\----

The first barrels exploded in magnificent plumes of black smoke and Mikasa, Levi, and Kat took off. Kat took a long arcing path close to the outer wall of the room they were in. She counted quickly as she flew. "35 total! All armed! Platforms behind the pillars high in the air!" She called out and dove into the fray. 

Now that everyone knew how the modified ODM gear worked, this fight was thus far going much better than their previous encounter with the Interior Squad. The smoke idea had been a godsend, too. It was working perfectly to obscure the shooters' sightlines enough to let the Scouts get in close. Their blades dominated in melee range. Kat paused in her fighting for a moment to assess the battle again. Their team had yet to lose anyone while cutting down at least half of their enemies. Hange was pursuing a blonde woman that Kat had heard giving orders earlier. Kat saw what was about to happen, but was too far away to do anything about it. The blonde fired her two shots and stole a move she had seen Kat and Levi use in the ambush fight - she used her anchor as a weapon. She shot it at Hange and it landed deep in the brunette's shoulder. The blonde flung Hange around like a ragdoll and slammed her into one of the pillars. She then ordered her team to retreat and regroup and they disappeared.

Everyone jumped down, landing around Hange in a circle. Kat reached down and felt for a pulse. It was present, but slow. "She's alive," she announced and rolled the officers over onto her back to assess the damage.

"Sloans, take Hange up to the surface and wait for us," Levi said and turned towards the back of the cavern where Kenny and his team had fled.

Kat and Zach nodded. Zach picked Hange up bridal style and the three of them ascended the staircase.

"When did we become a single entity?" Zach asked as he laid Hange down in the back of the cart before climbing in himself. "It's not 'Kat and Zach' anymore, it's just 'Sloans'."

Kat shrugged. "It's more efficient? We make a good team? He's secretly upset that I'm not taking his last name? He's secretly ecstatic that I'm not taking his last name? He thinks it sounds cool? Who knows?"

"I just hope no one thinks we're married," he said with a grimace.

She rolled her eyes. "Can't be any worse than the rumors we used to hear. Did you hear how people freaked the fuck out when word spread that we're siblings after so many months of rumors that we were fucking?"

He shuddered. "I had creepy guys giving me high fives for days afterwards. I didn't realize incest was such big thing."

Kat shook her head. "I miss not knowing or caring what anyone thinks or says about me. Now they're saying in the papers that I'm a liar and a cheat since the titan kill numbers were released from Eren's rescue mission."

"I remember reading that editorial. People are idiots, but you have to admit it is weird for a middle of the road soldier to suddenly get a kill count four times higher than any other soldier on an expedition."

"But I'm not a middle of the road soldier," she argued.

"They don't know that."

Hoofbeats interrupted their conversation. A single set, approaching quickly from the woods. Whoever was approaching definitely wasn't going for stealth as they crashed loudly through the underbrush. Zach crouched over Hange's unconscious body and pulled out his blades. Kat hopped to the driver's seat of the cart and grabbed the rifle sitting there.A massive black stallion burst through the bushes into the small clearing where Kat and Zach sat. He was only partially geared with what looked like wagon tack.

"Dudley?" Zach asked as he stood up and lowered his blades. He reached his hand out to the horse. Dudley snorted happily and trotted over to the cart, burying his nose in Zach's open hand.

"You're fucking joking," Kat said as she lowered her rifle.

Zach laughed triumphantly and ran his hands up the horse's face, over the top of his head, and down his neck. He wrapped his arms around Dudley's thick neck and hugged him. "I bet you gave them hell, didn't you Dud?"

He must have been picked to pull the wagon because he was such a big horse. And he must have given hell to break free from the wagon and come find them. How had he even managed to do that? Kat pinched the bridge of her nose in disbelief. The Scouts needed to stud this horse out.

An explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet and interrupted their reunion.

"What the hell was that?" Zach asked as he stepped off the wagon to remove the tattered wagon harness from his horse.

"I'm not sure. I didn't see any cannons down there," Kat answered.

The ground continued shaking. Nearby, a fissure started forming and the chapel began sinking into it.

"Shit Zach we need to go!" Kat yelled as she sat in the driver's seat and whipped the reins. 

Zach jumped onto Dudley bareback and rode off to where they had left the rest of the horses. They wouldn't be able to take them while they fled, but he could at least set them free so they could run away and live.

All the commotion broke Hange out of her unconscious slumber and she sat up in the cart. "What's happening?" She asked as she rubbed her head.

They were a safe distance away now and could look back toward the broken ground where the chapel had been sitting less than five minutes ago. A massive titan, way bigger than the Colossal, was breaking out from underground. It had no skin and was streaked with fire as it emitted steam from every muscle. It pulled itself out of the cavern, ignored the people on the surface watching in horror, and started dragging itself toward the wall of Orvud District.

"Hange, take the cart!" Kat yelled as she jumped down and went to find some of the scattered horses. "We need to see if anyone is alive." She hoped so. She hoped to God that they were all okay.

Hange dragged herself into the driver's seat and urged the horse forward. Kat mounted her horse and grabbed the reins of another before she followed. Zach was close behind her riding Dudley bareback with the horse he had borrowed in tow. They tried to skirt along the edge of the crater that used to be the chapel, being careful not to get too close to the chasm. The last thing they wanted was to find a sinkhole and plummet down into the cavern. They were calling out, hoping someone could hear them beneath the rubble, when they saw two heads pop out.

"Connie! Sasha!" Zach yelled and ran to them. "You're okay!"

They both nodded.

"Where is everyone else?" Kat asked as she approached. 

"They're all underground. We were sent to find an exit," Connie answered.

"What happened down there?" Hange asked.

"Let's get everyone out, then we can hear the story," Kat said and stepped toward the two recruits.


	21. The Rescue Part 4

Hange, Kat, Eren, and Historia were riding in the cart now. Armin was driving again and everyone else was on horseback. They met up with the rest of the Scouts not far from the chapel.

"Everyone okay?" Commander Erwin asked as he rode up.

"Yes, Hange is our only casualty," Levi answered.

Hange waved weakly from the cart, blood covering most of her right side. Kat was currently working on treating her wounds.

"It doesn't seem that serious," Erwin said in response to Hange's injury. "Good work everyone."

"I've got a shit ton of things to report, but right now the most important thing is that titan," Levi said and they all looked up at the monstrosity slowly dragging itself along the ground. "It's Rod Reiss."

Erwin gasped.

"We'll need your call on this one, Commander," Kat said as she stood up and called for her horse.

"Get to Wall Sina," Erwin said as he turned his horse around.

"You're gonna let that fat ass drag itself to the wall?" Levi asked.

"Specifically to Orvud District, yes," Erwin answered.

\----

They were able to beat Rod to the wall without an issue. He could be seen off in the distance, slowly making his way to the wall and setting everything in his path ablaze. Everyone was gathered in the strategy room. Kat stood between Levi and Hange in front of the recruits, waiting and listening. Behind her, Historia joined the line of recruits. Kat looked back at her, their new queen, giving her a quick nod before turning back to the front. Everyone had protested earlier when Levi had told Historia she needed to be the new queen, but she had done the noble thing and sacrificed her own happiness for the cause. Kat could appreciate the immensity of her decision and respected the hell out of Historia for agreeing to take on her new role.

Once Kat had her back turned again, Mikasa leaned over and whispered to Historia, "When you're queen, you can punch that runt in the face." 

Kat looked back over her shoulder. Mikasa and Historia both stiffened, they didn't think she had heard.

"It's very satisfying to punch him in the face," Kat said with a smirk and turned around once more. She caught Levi giving her a sideways glare and smirked again.

\----

The plan was set. Like usual, it was based on a huge gamble. Every available cannon was getting moved to the portion of the wall that Rod Reiss was heading for. Hopefully, that would be enough firepower to destroy his nape. If not, the Scouts were going to rig together a bunch of gunpowder barrels and have Eren transform to get close enough to throw the barrels into the titan's mouth. The rest of the Scouts would douse themselves with water to protect them against the titan steam and then attack, slicing all the remaining pieces of the titan into pieces too small to regenerate.

Unsurprisingly, the cannons didn't work. A mixture of old equipment and inexperienced soldiers meant they couldn't get the right angle and power behind the initial attacks to make a difference. Kat was helping everyone stack the barrels of gunpowder when she noticed Eren standing off to the side, staring down at the city below with that look on his face. That same look she had seen on his face in Stohess, when he couldn't transform to fight Annie. That look that meant he was having some internal battle. She abandoned her work and approached him. When she got close, she could hear him mumbling to himself.

"Useless. I'm no hope for humanity. They've all put their faith in someone who isn't strong enough."

Kat scowled and stepped around in front of him, interrupting his sight line to the city below. "What the fuck are you doing?" She asked.

He started and stared down at her, but didn't say anything.

"More of this shit?" She asked and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling his face down to hers. "You're only useless when you give up, dumbass," she shouted and continued pulling, dragging him down to his knees. "You think we don't want to give up? Huh?! Just take the easy way out, roll over, and die?"

Eren started pulling on Kat's hands, trying to loosen her grip on his collar. She released her left hand, pulled it back, and punched him.

"Oi!" Mikasa shouted and ran over, hooking her arms under Kat's arms.

Kat pulled against the younger woman's grip and managed to punch Eren again before she was completely pulled off.

"Captain, what are you doing?" Armin asked.

Kat flexed her fist and pulled herself out of Mikasa's hold. "I'm beating the uselessness out of this brat," she answered, still scowling.

Eren ran the back of his hand under his bloody nose and said, "Don't worry, Captain. That brat's gone now."

Kat's look softened. She was glad she didn't have to taunt Eren into anger this time. He really was growing into a proper soldier now, more level headed and aware of his own worth and strength. She held her hand out and he took it, grinning and letting her help him back to his feet. 

Rod Reiss's head appeared over the top of the wall and everyone finally got a look to see if their gamble had paid off. His titan was missing the entire front half of its face. Its eye sockets were empty the mouth grotesquely gaped open with no lips and hardly any teeth. Kat patted Eren on the shoulder, gave him an encouraging nod, and went to join everyone else at the water barrels to douse herself.

\----

Levi and Kat had been assigned to return to the chapel grounds and search for survivors from the Interior Squad. It had been a few hours since the Scouts had defeated Rod Reiss. Everyone had been given time to eat breakfast, shower, and change into clean uniforms before going back to work. 

They finished their sweep of the rooms and found the bodies of all 35 of Kenny's men. They were either crushed to death or died from blood loss due to ODM blade wounds.

"Kenny's not here," Kat said quietly as they climbed back out of the cavern.

Levi nodded and started walking toward the nearby forest. "I think I know where he is."

They searched along the edge of the forest until they found Kenny. The right side of his face was raw with burn marks and he was bleeding out from a blade wound in his gut and several cuts on his face. He had removed his ODM harness and was sitting on the ground, leaning heavily back on the tree behind him and panting. Kat and Levi approached, Kat with her rifle pointed at Kenny's chest, though she got the feeling it was unnecessary.

"Kenny," Levi said as they stopped in front of the broken man.

Kenny looked up at them and attempted to smirk. "I'm really sick of seeing the two of you, you know that?" He coughed up blood onto his chest.

"Your people we fought - they're all dead now," Levi said.

"Seems like I'm the only survivor, then," Kenny said and slumped forward slightly.

Kat lowered her rifle.

Levi's eyes narrowed and he waited a moment before speaking again, "With those burns and blood loss, there's no helping you now."

Kenny grinned a little and reached into his pocket to pull out a wooden box. He flipped it open on the ground next to him, revealing a syringe and a glass vial. "Is that so?" He mumbled.

Levi's eyes went wide as he looked down at the box. Kat's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What's that, some healing serum?" She asked.

"No," Levi said, "It turns people into titans."

Kat's eyes went wide to match Levi's and she put her rifle back on her shoulder.

Kenny took a deep, shuddering breath, coughed up a little more blood from the effort, and then spoke, "A dumb titan, unfortunately. But it might extend my life some."

"You've had the time and the strength to inject yourself. What haven't you done it yet?" Levi asked.

"Well," Kenny began in a quiet voice, "If I do it wrong, I might end up all messed up like Rod Reiss.

"What's the real reason?" Kat asked, the barrel of her gun still pointed at Kenny's chest.

Levi reached over and put a hand on the barrel of Kat's gun, lightly pushing down until she had it pointing at the ground once more.

Kenny's voice was cracking now as he spoke, "I don't want to die, and I want power, but now I see… I see why he did it." He started chuckling.

Kat and Levi exchanged confused glances before looking back at the dying man in front of them.

"Everyone's the same. Drinking, women, worshipping God… Family, the King, children, power… everyone's gotta be drunk on something to keep pushing on. Everyone's a slave to something." He coughed again, a big splatter of blood landed on the grass between his sprawled legs. "And what are you two? Heroes?"

Levi stepped forward and grabbed Kenny's shoulders, forcing the older man to look up at him. "Tell me everything you know!" He was sick of listening to the ramblings of a dying man.

Kat also stepped forward so that she was within arm's reach to pull Levi back if she needed to.

Levi continued speaking, "Why doesn't the first King want humanity to survive?"

"Beats me, but we Ackermans opposed him because of it." Kenny coughed again, and this time the blood splattered on Levi's face. "The Sloans, too."

Levi didn't flinch away as he asked the next question, "I'm also an Ackerman. What were you to my mother?"

Kat could tell what Levi was really asking: are you my father?

Kenny laughed a little, a painful strangled noise. "You idiot. I was just her brother."

Kat couldn't see Levi's face, but she assumed his eyes were as wide as hers. She reached out and gently put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly.

Levi turned his face away from his uncle. "That day… why did you leave me?"

"Because I'm not meant to be someone's father," Kenny answered and shoved the box of titan serum into Levi's chest. Kat and Levi both gazed at the box for a moment before looking back up at Kenny. 

His eyes were half closed, there was no life behind his pupils, and he wasn't breathing. Levi dropped back to the ground, sitting in the grass in front of Kenny. Kat stepped forward and stood next to him, cradling her rifle up on her shoulder. Levi leaned over and rested his head against her thigh. She tangled her fingers in his hair.

They stayed like that, silent and still, until they heard someone calling for them some time later.


	22. Plans for the Future

Kat was escorting her new queen and the rest of the 104th back to Historia's quarters in the palace. They had all come directly from the crowning ceremony and were still in their dress uniforms. 

"You're really gonna do it, Historia?" Eren asked. "Mikasa was just joking!"

"If I can't do it, then I don't deserve to be Queen," Historia said and clenched her fists at her side.

"After you do it," Kat said, "Dare him to hit you back." Everyone looked back at the captain to see her smirking. "Just don't rough up his face, please," she added with a wink.

They all looked back ahead as Levi pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning on and walked out into the middle of the hall. Historia put her fists up, let out a battle cry, and ran at Levi. He easily stepped to the side and let her ineffectually punch him in the ribs. Everyone gasped, waiting for Levi's response. Kat walked past Historia, gave her a high five, and went to stand next to her husband.

Levi let out a single chuckle and grinned at all of the recruits. "Thank you… all of you." He put his hands in his pockets and turned to walk away.

Kat turned with him, looping one hand through his arm and resting it in the crook of his elbow.

"Those two are so cute," Historia said as they walked away.

Kat leaned over and started whispering in Levi’s ear. The recruits couldn’t hear the words, but Levi started grinning again at whatever she was saying.

"Gross is more like it," Zach said with a grimace.

\----

That night, Kat and Levi laid in bed in Levi’s quarters above his office. They were still half-drunk from their night of celebration with the Scouts.

“We need to get our own place eventually,” Kat said with a yawn. “We can’t just keep switching beds every night.”

“We never decided where we wanted to get a house,” Levi said.

“Maybe we should just stay on base? They’ve got cottages available for married soldiers and small families,” She suggested.

“I’ve been in the military for ten years, five of them as an officer, with almost no expenses. I can afford to get us a really nice place in the interior,” he said.

She propped herself up on an elbow and looked down at him. “I know the last place you want to live is in the interior. Besides, I probably have just as much money saved as you, but I’d rather we spent it on something other than a luxury home that we’ll hardly ever spend time in.”

“Yeah, like what?” He asked.

“Like that orphanage Historia is trying to get the funding for. The one focused on getting kids out of the Underground. Between the two of us, we could probably mostly fund the project ourselves.”

He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair. He said, “Okay,” though he didn’t seem very convinced.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I think we should do whatever we want with our money from before we got married. You can buy a nice house in the interior with your money if you want, but I’m giving most of mine to the orphanage project.” She laid back down and rolled over so that her back was facing him.

He rolled over to face her and pulled her naked body in flush against his. “No, I would rather give it to the orphanage. I just thought you would want to live somewhere nice for once.”

She sighed. “I already told you. I don’t care where I live or what I do for the rest of my life as long as you’re there with me.”

He kissed the back of her neck and sighed. “We should fill out the request for new housing in the morning. It’ll take them a few days to process it. And I’m sure the place will be absolutely filthy.”

She grinned and snuggled into him a little tighter, closing her eyes.

“Did you ever pick your new squad?” Levi asked after a few minutes of silence.

“No,” Kat answered. “At this point I might just have Erwin assign some people to me. I don’t have anyone in mind and I’m not sure I’ll have time to hunt anyone down.”

“You know, you could always have your Vice Captain do it.”

“Hmph. You mean the only actual member of my squad?”

He smirked. “Yeah. Delegate it to him.”

She thought for a moment. “You know, that’s actually not a bad idea.”

“Besides, Erwin might stick you with some goody-two-shoes who likes to talk too much.”

Kat shuddered. “Good point. I’ll get Zach to pick our squad.”

\----

The next two weeks were exceptionally busy. Levi and Kat’s housing request was approved, so they were busy cleaning their new little cottage, packing their things, and moving. Now that they no longer needed offices with quarters, they were also being moved to single-story offices to free up the space for other officers. On top of that, they were also now deeply involved with Historia’s orphanage project. As the top donors to the cause, they were asked almost everyday for their input on various parts of the project and were making frequent trips to scout potential locations. There were also daily leadership meetings to discuss plans for retaking Wall Maria. And then, of course, the ever-present paperwork that officers in the military always seemed to have no matter what was going on. 

Zach had gladly taken on the responsibility of forming a new squad and was spending most of his days on the training grounds observing and sparring with potential members. A week before they were all scheduled to leave for the mission to Shiganshina, Zach finally approached her with his final recruitment list. It only had three names:  
Mikasa Ackerman  
Levi Ackerman  
Jean Kirstein

Kat looked up over the edge of the paper at him. "Are you kidding me with this shit?"

"They're the only ones I trust to be on our team."

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're not a very good Vice Captain."

He just grinned at her.

"I'll go talk to Erwin," she said, still pinching her nose.


	23. Shiganshina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one - it just seemed better to split this one into two parts.

Everything had gone to shit at an unbelievable pace. Kat's squad and Levi had been relegated to horse protection duty while everyone else fought the Armored and Colossal Titans inside the city. The Beast Titan had already massacred most of the veteran scouts with his first two boulder volleys and he was getting close to doing the same to the rest of them. Eren's limp Titan body still hung over the top of the wall above them. Kat, Levi, and Erwin sat off to the side of the panicking recruits in charge of protecting the horses and held an impromptu strategy meeting.

"Levi, I need you to kill the Beast Titan," Erwin was explaining. "Promise me you can do that."

Levi stared at the Commander for a moment before asking, "How am I supposed to get close enough to him without him noticing? It'd be pretty obvious something was up once his 15 meter Titans started falling one by one."

"We'll act as a distraction for you," Kat said.

Levi's head snapped to stare at her. 

Erwin didn't look up as he said, "She's right. The only way anyone leaves here today is if the Beast Titan dies. The only way he dies is if you get close to him. The only way you get close to him is if the rest of us charge straight at him and hold all of his attention."

"When did you two become so damn suicidal?" Levi asked. "Erwin, what about your dream?"

Erwin sat heavily on the crate behind him and stared down at his hand. "I wish I could go to that basement. Just to see if my dad was right all along."

"Kat, why do you have to go? Why can't you stay back here?" Levi asked as he turned to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"No one's going to follow this crazy plan if the leadership isn't at the front of the charge," she said quietly, avoiding his eyes. "If I can't go, then I can't ask them to go."

Levi pulled her forward into a tight hug. "Please Kat, don't do this," he pleaded quietly in her ear.

She wrapped her arms around his chest and buried her face in his shoulder, doing her best to hold back a sob as she said, "Til death do us part, right?"

Erwin stood from his crate and walked past them, patting Levi on the shoulder once before going to call the recruits together.

Kat took a deep, shaky breath and pulled away slightly. Levi did the same and put his forehead against hers. "I want you to always remember how much I love you. I want you to remember that humanity is bigger than the two of us. I want you to kill that bastard titan and not let us die in vain."

He nodded and leaned down to kiss her. "I love you too. And I'll kill him, I promise. I'll kill every last one of these goddamn titans to avenge you."

She smirked and kissed him. "You better."

\----

Zach walked up on his horse and stood next to Kat who was just behind and to the right of Erwin.

"Where's Dudley?" She asked when she realized he was on a chestnut mare.

Zach shook his head and sighed. "I can't let that beautiful bastard die like this. I left him back with the rest of the extra horses."

She reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "Don't worry, Levi will find him and take good care of him."

He nodded and sighed. "I was going to propose to Greta when we got home."

Kat felt tears welling up in the back of her eyes as she put her hand back on her reins, but she tried to keep a brave face for her brother. "She knows you loved her. That's what's important."

"Everyone!" Erwin yelled and held his arm straight over his head. The crying soldiers behind him all turned their attention to him. "Advance!"

With a battle cry, they spurred their horses forward. In her peripheral vision, between the green flares and the flying pieces of rock, Kat saw the large titans slowing falling one by one. She kept her eyes forward as a grin crept its way onto her tear-streaked face.

And then a volley of rocks approached at breakneck speed.


	24. Shiganshina Part 2

Kat opened her eyes and immediately regretted it as the late morning sun glared in her eyes. She squinted and sat up, groaning a bit and clutching her side. Nothing felt broken, but her back was almost certainly covered in one big bruise. A whistle sounded nearby.

"What happened?" She muttered as she looked around, trying to find the source of the whistle. "Am I dead?" She continued muttering as she scanned the ground around her. It was littered with the mangled corpses of soldiers and horses. Her horse lay motionless next to her, torn to shreds. 

The whistling stopped. Pounding footsteps approached. The familiar boom of titan footsteps. Kat watched, her mind in a haze, as a titan ran past her on all fours. It had crates strapped to its back and was carrying a wounded man in its mouth. It paid her no mind as it passed.

"Was that…" she started to question but was interrupted by shouting behind her.

"Is anyone alive?!" 

She turned and saw a new emergency recruit from the Garrison. What was his name? Filch? No, not Filch. She put her forehead in her palm and rubbed it in an effort to clear her mind.

"Floch!" A different voice yelled, a voice that was familiar to Kat.

"Zach?" She said quietly as she looked up again. 

Zach was running up to Floch. He was riding Dudley. So that was the whistling from earlier, Zach was calling his horse.

"Zach?" She asked a little louder.

His head turned in her direction and his eyes went wide. He seemingly forgot about Floch as he rushed over and slid off Dudley and onto his knees next to her. "You look like shit!"

"I feel like it, too. I can't believe you're alive."

"Same," he answered and looked around. His eyes stopped on something in the distance and she followed his gaze. 

15 meter titans continued to fall in the distance. Metal glinted in the sunlight between them, arcing up and down in a rhythmic pattern. Kat and Zach looked back at each other, their expressions serious. Levi was still alive.

"Take Dudley and go get him. Floch and I will look for more survivors," Zach said as he pulled Kat to her feet.

She bit back a groan as she pulled herself onto the tall horse, her feet not even close to reaching the stirrups. 

"See you on the other side of the wall," Zach said and slapped Dudley on the rear, causing the horse to whinny and rocket forward.

Adrenaline kicked in and dulled the ache in her back as she rode full speed toward the falling titans. She kept her hands high on Dudley's neck, giving him free reign to run as fast as possible while she just focused on gripping him tightly with her knees to stay in the saddle.

The last titan fell as Kat was just getting within yelling distance. "Levi!" She shouted over the pounding of Dudley's hoofbeats and her own pulse in her ears. She slowed to a trot as he came fully into view. 

He was panting heavily and covered in blood. His scabbards were empty and the blades on his handles were worn down to nubs. He stared off into the distance, his eyes were filled with what Kat could only assume was blood lust. She slid off Dudley and landed in front of her husband, pulling him into a hug. 

It took him a moment to realize what was happening. When it dawned on him, he dropped his weapons and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, burying his face in her hair and taking a deep breath. "You're alive."

She didn't say anything, she just nodded into his chest. 

"I couldn't keep my promise," he whispered after a few seconds of silence. "I couldn't kill the Beast Titan."

She pulled back from him and scowled. "Like hell you couldn't. The bastard isn't gone yet." She removed the blades from her scabbard and slid them into his. After that, she swapped his almost-empty gas tanks for her almost-full ones. "I'm not letting you give up yet. We're going back to that town and you're going to kill that son of a bitch."

He watched her work but didn't help. 

She called for Dudley, grabbing the saddle and swinging herself up onto his back as he trotted by her. "Now get on the damn horse," she ordered and reached her hand down to Levi.

He clasped her hand in his and pulled himself up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she kicked Dudley, spinning him around toward the wall and going full speed once again.

\----

The remaining Scouts stood in a small group atop Wall Rose looking down at all the people cheering for them. They were the heroes of humanity.

All 11 of them. The only ones left out of the 300 who had left just a few days before.

Kat collapsed next to Levi and leaned over to rest her head on his thigh. He reached down and ran his fingers through her hair. She wanted time to think, to grieve. But that wasn't something she could do. Not right now, at least. She, Hange, and Levi were now the only remaining officers. And they had a shit ton of work ahead of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading my first Levi story. I purposefully ended this one pretty close to the end of the anime to avoid spoilers. Maybe some day in the future I'll make a Part 2 to the series, but for now I end it here.
> 
> If you liked this, keep an eye out for my future Modern AU Levi stories. I have a few in the works.


End file.
